Myxomycetes, aka Myxos, aka Slime Moulds, are fascinating single-celled species that are protozoans—neither plants, animals or fungi—but more akin to amoebas. They live in the soils of every continent on earth. We don’t see them until it’s time for them to procreate, when they move above ground to become the fanciful shapes and colours of their fruiting bodies.

Pam Janszen first crossed paths with them in 1996 when she was doing fungal inventories on Saturna. In 2017, after collecting over 1000 fungi specimen and over 500 species, she changed her focus from fungi to myxomycetes. This all changed from a happy interest to what seems like a full-time job—working for free of course—when Andy MacKinnon, a renowned BC research ecologist, approached Pam about writing a BC Slime Mould Field Guide. Pam, a Saturna resident since 1988, has become one of Canada’s most knowledgeable experts in myxos and has been fully engaged in studying these species. Join us to learn more about these wonderful species that quietly inhabit our world, and Pam’s journey to learn about them.