Acknowledgements

I am profoundly grateful to my advisors, Dave Malloch and Neil Straus, for their thoughtful mentorship, both intentional and unintentional, on all matters of science and life. They have given me gifts of their patience and wisdom that I cannot repay. I thank the members of my supervisory committee, Jim Anderson, David Miller and Richard Summerbell, for their gentle encouragement and sincere enthusiasm which helped me to stay on-track. Linda Kohn and Keith Seifert are thanked for their excellent and thoughful feedback on the thesis in conjunction with the senate oral examination.

I could not have completed this thesis nor the research it presents without the friendship, dedication and benevolence of Brenda Koster, Bess Wong and Wendy Untereiner.

I have laughed, cried and grown immeasurably from my friendships and discussions, often over beer, pizza or #49, with my fellow graduate students Jacquie Bede, Cameron Currie, Laurie Ketch and Simona Margaritescu, along with many others. I am grateful for the assistance of Len Hutchison, Brett Couch, Wendy Malloch, Colleen McGee, Emily Taylor and Megan Weibe during the early stages of this work. More recently, Michael Warnock generously helped in proofreading and correcting this dissertation.

Many of the ideas concerning building science have been distilled from the many insightful discussions I have had on the topic with John Pogacar, who also provided assistance with the final preparation of this thesis. I am very grateful to Tedd Nathanson for leading me to the study of fungi and indoor air quality. I almost certainly would not have become interested in this area had it not been for his diligence. I also thank Bruce Fraser and Rob Robinson, who have been great resources for “real-world” perspectives on fungal problems in buildings. The late Barry Neville and Shanelle Lum very kindly kept me informed of many news items on indoor fungi that otherwise I would have missed. Carolyn Babcock (DAOM), Steve Peterson (NRRL) and Dag Spicer (NASA, Moffit Air Field) graciously provided cultures.

Financial support was provided by NSERC in the form of operating grants and a strategic grant to DM and NS, and a doctoral scholarship to JS. Jim Gloer is also thanked for his generosity during my first year of graduate study and the three years preceding my entry into graduate school during which I had the pleasure to work with Jim on coprophilous fungi.

Wieland Meyer has been a superlative collaborator on the aspects of this project involving DNA fingerprinting of Penicillium chrysogenum. Steve Peterson, John Pitt and Rob Samson are thanked for many insightful discussions on Penicillium taxonomy.

I owe the greatest debt of gratitude to my parents, Kay and Alex Scott, for nurturing my ecclectic interests from a very young age, for their compassion and understanding of the many turns my life has taken, and for the unconditional freedom, support and love that they have given me as I pursue my dreams. For all this and much more, I dedicate this thesis to them.

On a muggy, summer day when I was a very young boy, my cousin, the late James E. Guillet (Professor of Chemistry at the University of Toronto), inspired me to study biology. As we stood together in my grandmother’s garden, Jim explained that the stems of the rhubarb plant could be eaten but that the leaves could not, because they were poisonous. How could it be so? And why? I stared in utter disbelief and hotly challenged this queer notion, as my parents, grimacing, looked on. I stopped just short of biting into a leaf myself to support my contention. In the very many intervening years since, I have reflected on our exchange countless times. Jim, perhaps unintentionally, taught me four very valuable lessons that day: 1) Nature is fascinating and intricate, her properties and processes are not always apparent or intuitive; 2) Never be afraid to question any notion proffered as fact, no matter how high the authority; 3) Science embodies a set of methods that can provide insight into the delicate inner workings of Nature when applied thoughtfully and skillfully; and above all, 4) Don’t eat rhubarb leaves.