Sarah Lloyd has been awarded the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria’s Australian Natural History Medallion in recognition of her services to Australian natural history during the previous decade.

Fungimap congratulates Sarah and welcomes the attention her beloved slime moulds will be given as a result!

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(See Sarah’s gallery for more of these remarkable photos)

Here is some of what the Central North Field Naturalists (of which Sarah is a member) have to say:

……Sarah has been one of the most prolific contributors to the group’s database of fungal records, registering 1,699 records (since 2001). She has also organized expeditions to explore the amazing fungal diversity that occurs in the Blue Tier (2010) and the Tarkine (2012 and 2016). These expeditions have led to significant collections of fungi being lodged with herbaria. Currently, she is a member of the team preparing the second edition of Fungimap’s field guide to Australian fungi: ‘FUNGI DOWN UNDER, the Fungimap Guide to Australian Fungi’.

Research in Natural History: Sarah’s interests in natural history have been mainly in the fields of ornithology, specializing in bush and forest birds; mycology and the study of myxomycetes (slime moulds); and ecology, with a focus on conservation management.

……In 2010, Sarah began serious investigations into the slime moulds that live in the forest surrounding her home at Birralee. These are difficult organisms to study because they are unpredictable, ephemeral and hard to detect. Sarah has taken the approach of observing them, often on a daily basis, in the locations where she has found them. This has vastly increased the understanding of slime moulds, especially their diversity and ecology, and Sarah’s observations have increased the number slime mould species known to occur in Tasmania from 42 to 115. A species of slime mould, which is new to science, Alwysia lloydiae, has been named in her honour. Information about Sarah’s slime mould research can be found on the web site she started in 2017: Tasmanian Myxomycetes – searching for slime moulds in northern Tasmania.
Sarah’s understanding of good ecological practices for conserving habitats for Tasmania’s native fauna and flora species led to the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE) commissioning her to write a handbook for private landowners managing covenanted areas for nature conservation (see below). Sarah uses these practices to manage her own property at Birralee.

Publications: Since 2008, Sarah has been the author of nine books, superbly illustrated with her photographs. These include The feathered tribes of Van Diemen’s Land, which is recommended reading for students of ecology at the University of Tasmania; Where the slime mould creeps: the fascinating world of Myxomycetes, which has just been released in its second edition; and Bugs, birds, bettongs & bush, conserving habitats for Tasmania’s native animals, the key guide recommended by DPIPWE, for private landowners with a covenant to manage areas for nature conservation.

Photography: Sarah has published hundreds of photographs of birds, mammals, reptiles, frogs, invertebrates, flowering plants, bryophytes, fungi, lichens, slime moulds, plus habitat types in her published books. Her photos are freely available and university academics use Sarah’s photos and books in their lectures. In 2010, Sarah presented an exhibition of many of these photographs at the Weldborough Hall during the expedition she organized to the Blue Tier. A slime mould image gallery is available on the Disjunct Naturalists and Tasmanian Myxomycetes web sites and includes images of all 115 slime mould species found in Tasmania plus time-lapse images showing the development of four species. 89 species of slime moulds found in the forests at Sarah’s home are depicted in a poster compiled in 2013.
Congratulations to Sarah for this well-deserved recognition of her dedication to furthering our knowledge of the natural world.
Patricia Ellison
President, Central North Field Naturalists