This episode focuses on the non-plant companions commonly found in gardens, namely fungi and insects.  Chris Stafford is joined by Dr. Brad Bolman, a recent Interdisciplinary Resident at Oak Spring, and Dr. Rea Manderino, Oak Spring's full-time Ecologist and Collections Specialist. 

Brad's current research and forthcoming book explore the emergence of the field of mycology or the study of fungi and mushrooms. Mushrooms were often met with trepedation in the past, but in recent decades mushrooms have become accepted as an important source of food and medicine. Brad discusses the scientist who played a key role in this shift, and more.  This interview is followed by an interview with Dr. Rea Manderino who explains the important role insects play in understanding plant communities.  Rea elaborates upon some of the ways that she is researching insect populations on the Oak Spring landscape.

Dr. Brad Bolman is a Postdoctoral Member in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study. He received a PhD in History of Science from Harvard University. His first book, Lab Dog: What Global Science Owes American Beagles, is forthcoming from the University of Chicago Press and tells the story of the emergence of the laboratory dog as an experimental subject. It shows how locally bred beagles raised in labs across America became transnational laboratory commodities and how scientists came to understand themselves and what it means to be human through beagles. He is currently at work on a new book, Rotten Beauty, which tells the globe-spanning story of fungi’s fascinating, unexpected, life-sustaining, and at times deadly reign throughout human history. The book focuses on the complex and singular lives of mycologists and others who spent their lives trying to make sense of the mysteries of fungal life. It is about how the instrumental use and application of fungi helped make our modern world possible, and how that modern world opened countless avenues for new fungal perils. It is a story about balance, maintained on a knife’s edge.

Dr. Rea Manderino has served as OSGF’s Ecologist and Collections Specialist since 2022. Shespecializes in insect conservation and invasion ecology. Her work bridges the conservation ofplants with the insects that rely on them at both the scale of the individual stem to the broaderplant community across the landscape. She collaborates with researchers in the area andaround the country to assess changes in insect communities over time. Rea also serves as thecurator for the preserved Biological Collection, coordinating the creation of the insect collectionand herbarium. She leads several insect-themed programs at OSGF, highlighting invertebratebiodiversity and their relationships with plants.

Rea received her PhD in Entomology from SUNY – College of Environmental Science andForestry in 2021, her MS in Environmental Science from the University of Virginia in 2013, andher BA in Biology from the University of Chicago in 2009. She grew up in central Kansas andhas lived in Virginia since 2009, currently residing on 5 acres of old-growth forest in PrinceWilliam County. When she is not distracted by bugs, she enjoys gardening, crocheting,watching movies, reading vintage textbooks, planning road trips, and spending time with her family.