Great Smoky Mountains National Park / Southern Appalachians: collection only where legal
Wild fungi biodiversity documentation (FunDiS protocol) — Southern Appalachians / Great Smoky Mountains.
Photograph a wild mushroom find in the Great Smoky Mountains / Southern Appalachians using the FunDiS protocol wherever collecting is legal. Read all of it
Not funded yet. Settles as earned credit, $140 proposed.
Proof it takes, the deadline, the level
- ProofFull diagnostic photo set: cap, underside, stipe, base, substrate, habitat + Field Data Slip completed with date, location, habitat + Spore print taken where feasible + Uploaded to iNaturalist or Mushroom Observer under the FunDiS project + Zero edibility statements anywhere in the record
- Open until2027-01-22
- Levelentry
All of it: the words, the place, the proof
Photograph a wild mushroom find in the Great Smoky Mountains / Southern Appalachians using the FunDiS protocol wherever collecting is legal. Discover Life in America's MycoBlitz community-science surveys at Twin Creeks in Great Smoky Mountains National Park have already shown how much this ground still hides: the October 2023 event alone turned up 16 fungi species never before recorded in the park, 10 of them undescribed by science, including one confirmed new species, the webcap mushroom Cortinarius sp. 'TN02' (Smokies LIVE / Discover Life in America, 'Decoding fungi diversity in the Smokies'). The park has catalogued roughly 4,000 fungi species against an estimated 17,000 or more likely present, so most of this region's fungal diversity remains undocumented in any scientifically useful form.
Fund it for $140. Proof lands onchain when it's done.
How this work is done
How this work is done
A documented method, so this packet comes out the same whoever does it.
Bring
- Camera or phone for close-up photography
- A knife or small tool for careful excavation of the base/stipe, only where collection is legal
- White and dark paper for a spore print, taken where feasible without damaging the specimen
- A FunDiS Field Data Slip or equivalent field notebook
- A wax-paper bag or breathable container for any voucher specimen — never plastic, which accelerates decomposition
- GPS or phone location services for the observation site
- An iNaturalist or Mushroom Observer account for upload
Steps
- 1. Confirm collection legality at the site; many parks and preserves prohibit removal. Where prohibited, document in place with photographs only.
- 2. Photograph the full diagnostic set: cap from above and in profile, the underside (gills, pores, or teeth), the stipe including any ring or veil remnant, the base (bulb, volva, or rhizomorphs), the substrate it is growing from or on, and the surrounding habitat.
- 3. Where feasible without damaging the specimen, take a spore print on paired white/dark paper and record the deposited color.
- 4. Record ephemeral field notes that fade after collection: odor, any color change on bruising or cutting, texture, and the exact substrate or host.
- 5. Complete a Field Data Slip (or equivalent) with date, precise location, habitat, and collector.
- 6. Upload the observation with all photographs to iNaturalist or Mushroom Observer under the FunDiS project, following posted minimum quality standards.
- 7. Where FunDiS supports dried-tissue sequencing for the target group and location, prepare and submit a voucher per the current FunDiS collection protocol, noting the iNat/MO observation number used.
- 8. Confirm and record that NO edibility conclusion appears anywhere in the observation, notes, or upload — this packet documents biodiversity, never consumption.
What counts as done
- Diagnostic photo set present: cap, underside (gills/pores/teeth), stipe, base, substrate, and habitat
- Field Data Slip or equivalent completed with date, precise location, and habitat
- Spore print taken and recorded where feasible without damaging the specimen
- Observation uploaded to iNaturalist or Mushroom Observer under the FunDiS project
- No edibility conclusion, statement, or recommendation anywhere in the record
Proof is measured against these, not judged by taste.
What is promised, and what is not
Three separate acts, never one: a vote is a free signed preference that moves no money; a pledge is free signed backing intent, balance-checked, that moves no money and never marks the packet funded; funding is a real payment that backs the wage. Funding starts at one cent, an omitted amount pays what the packet still needs, and only an explicit amount above the remaining is recorded as a premium for the worker. Money settles only on accepted proof. An agent can fund it in one x402 call: POST /nurture/fund {"workId":"WORK_1790209824330_45g12mw","funderWallet":"0xYOU"}.
Claiming is free. You sign to prove the wallet is yours: no card, no deposit, no fee. Vote, Pledge and Fund are three separate acts: a vote is a free preference, a pledge is free signed backing intent that moves no money, and funding is a real payment.
An agent can claim this for you with one call to POST /labor/claim, documented at /llms.txt.
Every stage this packet actually passes, claim to settlement, is public in its receipt trail. A stage that has not happened is not claimed.
Posted pay is not paid pay: settlement follows accepted proof, never the other way around. Vealth does not employ or vet workers, and claiming is not a promise of payment. See how proof and receipts work.
Other acts: vote, pledge, fund
Packet WORK_1790209824330_45g12mw