biology

International Mycological Institute

International Mycological Institute is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand International Mycological Institute rather than just read about it. In short: The International Mycological Institute was a non-profit organisation, based in England, that undertook research and disseminated information on fungi, particularly plant pathogenic species causing crop diseases. It was established as the Imperial Bureau of Mycology at Kew in 1920 and amalgamated with CAB International in 1998.

Key takeaways

International Mycological Institute belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect International Mycological Institute to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of International Mycological Institute from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The International Mycological Institute was a non-profit organisation, based in England, that undertook research and disseminated information on fungi, particularly plant pathogenic species causing crop diseases. It was established as the Imperial Bureau of Mycology at Kew in 1920 and amalgamated with CAB International in 1998.

History The Imperial Bureau of Mycology was established in 1920 as a centre for accumulating and disseminating information on plant pathogenic fungi in the British Empire and for undertaking systematic research into such fungi. It was initially based in two houses at Kew, but in 1930 moved into a purpose-built building in the grounds of the Royal Botanic Gardens. In the same year, it became part of the Imperial Agricultural Bureaux and was renamed the Imperial Mycological Institute (IMI). IMI provided an identification service for pathogenic fungi from 1921 onwards and in 1922 started publishing abstracts of research literature in the Review of Applied Mycology. An herbarium of fungal specimens was also established. The journal Index of Fungi, covering all new fungal names, began in 1940 and the Bibliography of Systematic Mycology in 1947. In 1943, the first edition of the standard reference work, the Dictionary of the Fungi was published. A culture collection of living fungi was initiated in 1947. In 1948, IMI changed its name to the Commonwealth Mycological Institute and in 1986 to the International Mycological Institute. In 1993, it was moved from Kew to Egham, Surrey, and in 1998 it merged with the International Institute of Entomology, the International Institute of Biocontrol, and the International Institute of Parasitology to form CAB International. In 2010, the former IMI herbarium was merged with that of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Directors

Director of the Imperial Bureau of Mycology Sir Edwin John Butler (1920–1930)

Director of the Imperial Bureau of Mycology Sir Edwin John Butler (1930–1935) Sydney Francis Ashby (1935–1939) Samuel Paul Wiltshire (1940–1948)

Director of the Commonwealth Mycological Institute Samuel Paul Wiltshire (1948–1956) John Collier Frederick Hopkins (1956–1964) Geoffrey Clough Ainsworth (1964–1968) Anthony Johnston (1968–1983) David Leslie Hawksworth (1983–1986)

Director of the International Mycological Institute David Leslie Hawksworth (1986–1997)

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with International Mycological Institute

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what International Mycological Institute claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to International Mycological Institute before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about International Mycological Institute ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of International Mycological Institute

In research: International Mycological Institute appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses International Mycological Institute in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: International Mycological Institute is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1920 establishments in the United Kingdom, Biological research institutes in the United Kingdom, Biology organization stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for International Mycological Institute outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study International Mycological Institute in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what International Mycological Institute means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain International Mycological Institute out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is International Mycological Institute in simple terms?

Why does International Mycological Institute matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study International Mycological Institute?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on International Mycological Institute.