THEY HOLD HANDS! A MUSHROOM MAP OF MAINE

Mapping is a traditional technique of representation (Radović, 2016) that can be used to visualize where specific components of interest are located. Maps of organisms are commonly used to predict their distribution and their relationships to various components of nature, such as aspects of the environment. Trees are often easily mapped as they are immobile and easily identifiable. Mushrooms, or macrofungi, however are more difficult to map because they are cryptic and ephemeral. But, mushrooms often have strong associations with trees. Thus, by using forest composition mapping tools, and forest inventory data, a map predicting where mushroom species are located can be made by using the macrofungal tree associations. I used such an approach to build mushroom maps for Maine. A mushroom map provides a novel approach of visualizing and estimating the locations of mushroom species by utilizing their symbiotic relationships with trees. Such maps are valuable as they can provide new insight to mycologists, mycophagists, foragers, foresters, silviculturists, biologists, and other key groups searching for more expansive information regarding mushroom locations. The following 20 maps were generated utilizing forest inventory analysis (FIA) plots, ArcGIS, and Mushrooms of the Northeast United States and Eastern Canada by Timothy Baroni.