Mycologist From Thailand Visits University of Arkansas

Photo Submitted

Thida Win Ko Ko collecting in northern Thailand.

Thida Win Ko Ko, a mycologist from Mae Fah Luang University in Chiang Rai, Thailand, is currently visiting the department of biological sciences at the University of Arkansas. Research professor Steve Stephenson and Ko Ko are co-investigators on a grant from the National Geographic Society.

The funding from the grant is being used to support biodiversity studies of myxomycetes (plasmodial slime molds) in Southeast Asia. In addition, funding was provided to allow Ko Ko to make a visit to the University of Arkansas in order to work with Stephenson on specimens of myxomycetes collected in Southeast Asia.

Primary emphasis of the studies carried out thus far has been directed toward the countries of Laos, where there were no previous records of myxomycetes; Myanmar (or Burma) and Vietnam, where only a few records exist; and several areas of central Thailand that remain understudied for these organisms. Stephenson and Ko Ko collected together in Thailand during June of 2011, and Stephenson expects to return to that country this coming summer.