Brims, Margaret Helen (1932 - 2018)

Summary

Margaret Brims, a volunteer at the Western Australian Herbarium for 21 years, made a major contribution to the knowledge of Australian myxomycetes (slime moulds). Initially working as an occupational therapist at the Royal Perth Hospital, in 1972 she started a business supplying wildflowers and floral arrangements in her local area. By the time she sold the business in 1989 customers included clients interstate and overseas. Brims joined the Western Australian Herbarium as a volunteer in 1990, undertaking general curation of the collection and specialising in daisies (Asteraceae). Within a few years she became fascinated in myxomycetes. There being no local experts in slime moulds, she taught herself how to collect them (including the substrate): her husband Alex was a willing colleague in her field work including in New South Wales and Tasmania. She also learned to identify them, which involved the use of several types of microscope, and culture them. In this work she built up an international network of professional collaborators. Brims was closely involved in the international Eumycetosoan Project to produce a world-wide inventory of myxomycetes. During her time at the Herbarium, Brims increased the Herbarium's holdings of slime mould species from fewer than 100 to more than 625 specimens, and the number known from Western Australia to over 140. The myxomycete species Trichia brimsiorum after Margaret and her husband Alex.

Details

Chronology

1990 - 2011

Career position - Volunteer, Western Australian Herbarium

2002

Career event - Attended 4th International Congress on Systematics and Ecology of Myxomycetes, Brussels

2010

Award - Volunteer of the Year, Western Australian Herbarium

Related entries

Published resources

Journal Articles

• Davidson, E. M., Davidson, P. J. M. and Brims, M. H., 'Moist chamber and field collections of myxomycetes from the northern Simpson Desert, Australia', Australasian mycologist, 27 (2008), 129-35. Details
• Davidson, Elaine; Knight, Karina; and Hart, Roz, 'Margaret Helen Brims 23 April 1932 - 23 December 2018', Western Australian naturalist, 31 (3) (2020), 182-6. Details
• Knight, K. J.; and Brims, M. H., 'Myxomycota census of Western Australia', Nuytsia, 20 (2010), 283-307. Details
• McHugh, R., Mitchell, D. W., Brims, M. H. and Stephenson, S. L., 'New additions to the Myxomycota od Australia', Australasian mycologist, 28 (2009), 56-64. Details
• McHugh, R., Stephenson, S. L., Mitchell, D. W. and Brims, M. H., 'New records of Australian Myxomycota', New Zealand journal of botany, 41 (2003), 487-500. Details