Gulf Coast: Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Florida panhandle -- collection only where legal
Wild fungi biodiversity documentation (FunDiS protocol) — Gulf Coast (Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Florida).
Photograph a wild mushroom find on the Gulf Coast 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 on the Gulf Coast using the FunDiS protocol wherever collecting is legal. The Gulf South Mycological Society has run guided walks and lectures across this five-state coastline since 1979, yet a 2021 study of Gulf of Mexico beach fungi found 86 percent of the fungal forms it identified appeared in only a single collection out of 750 samples taken -- a strong sign of how undocumented this region's fungal diversity still is.
Offer to pay $140. The receipt lands onchain once the proof is approved.
Safety, read before you claim
No special training is needed to document a find, but never make any edibility determination, and identification for eating is expert mycologist work only. Suspected mushroom ingestion or poisoning is a poison control emergency: call 1-800-222-1222 (US) now and keep a sample for identification.
The full safety list for this job:
- Route any 'is this safe to eat' question to a local mycological society, such as the Gulf South Mycological Society (a NAMA-affiliated club serving the five-state Gulf Coast) or another NAMA-affiliated regional club, and even then this library takes no position.
- The 2021 beach-fungi undersampling study cited here surveyed microscopic marine ascomycetes in beach detritus using microscopy and molecular methods, not the fruiting-body mushrooms this protocol photographs; it is cited only as evidence that Gulf Coast fungal diversity in general is severely undersampled, not as a finding about this packet's own target fungi.
- Save a photographed and physical sample in a paper bag, not plastic, for expert identification.
- Collect only where legal, and never handle or ingest anything based on this packet's documentation.
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 with macro capability
- small mirror or white card (for gill/pore backgrounds)
- knife or trowel (for careful excavation of the base)
- wax paper or foil and a cup (for spore print)
- notebook or Field Data Slip
- smartphone with iNaturalist or Mushroom Observer app
Steps
- 1. Confirm collection is legal at the site; if the site prohibits removal, plan to document in place with photographs only.
- 2. Locate the fruiting body and photograph it in its habitat and substrate context before touching it.
- 3. If collection is legal, carefully excavate the full specimen including the base and any underground attachment, minimizing damage.
- 4. Photograph the full diagnostic set: cap (top and profile), the underside surface (gills, pores, or teeth), the stipe, the base/attachment, the substrate, and the surrounding habitat.
- 5. Where feasible without damaging the specimen, cut the stipe and place the cap gill/pore-side down on wax paper or foil, covered with a cup, for several hours to take a spore print.
- 6. Complete a Field Data Slip (or equivalent) recording date, precise GPS location, substrate, and habitat.
- 7. Where FunDiS supports it for the target group and location, prepare a dried-tissue voucher for DNA barcoding and herbarium/fungarium deposit per the FunDiS collection protocol.
- 8. Upload the full photo set, spore print description, and Field Data Slip to iNaturalist or Mushroom Observer under the FunDiS project for triager and expert-identifier review.
- 9. Never state or imply an edibility conclusion anywhere in the record.
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, made by the payer straight to the worker, with no Vealth fee. Paying Vealth is closed: Vealth takes no new card or wallet payment for a job. To fund a job, offer to pay the worker directly, then pay them yourself when you accept the proof, from your own wallet or by your own card or bank. From a wallet: prepare_token_offer, sign, submit_token_offer; after the proof is accepted you pay the worker on chain and the worker records it (prepare_token_settlement, or POST /labor/settle for USDC on Base). By card or bank: prepare_direct_offer, sign, submit_direct_offer; you pay the worker yourself and the worker records it with prepare_direct_settlement. Both are free, need no gas, and move no money through Vealth.
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_1790264070482_azi5dhs