Exploring fungal solutions: turkey-tail mushroom as a biocontrol for invasive honeysuckle

Authors: Mason Hallenbeck, Jessica Sarauer

SUNY Campus: SUNY Morrisville

Presentation Type: Poster

Location: Old Union Hall

Presentation #: 38

Timeslot: Session A 9:00-10:00 AM

Abstract: Across the United States and the rest of the world, invasive species wreak havoc, damaging native ecosystems and the economy. The traditional methods to control invasive species, such as chemical and mechanical treatments, are often expensive and tedious and can impact more than the target species. Invasive honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.), a shrub with vigorous regeneration infiltrating much of New York, damaging local ecosystems. My project researches an alternative treatment method: biocontrol, which utilizes other biotic agents to act as a treatment method. In the case of this project, that biocontrol is turkey-tail mushroom (Trametes versicolor), a saprotrophic fungus native to New York. Utilizing stump inoculation methods standard in commercial fungi cultivation and the SUNY Morrisville Aquaculture Center and Callahan Brook properties, which have been infested with honeysuckle, 21 invasive honeysuckle shrubs were used as research subjects. There were nine control subjects, which were just pruned, nine test subjects, which were pruned and then inoculated; and three test subjects, which were not pruned but still inoculated. The honeysuckle shrubs were then observed over a year, looking for signs of regrowth, decay, and presence of turkey-tail and other fungi. The data will then be used to expand the scope of the project, further refining the methodology of the treatment, until there is conclusive evidence on the feasibility of turkey-tail as a biocontrol method.