Supplement to Mycologia Vol. 64(6) December 2013 Newsletter of the Mycological Society of America — In This Issue — The Global Fungal Red List Initiative Articles The Global Fungal Red List Initiative Fungal conservation is not yet commonly discussed, consid- IUCN Resolution: Increasing the Attention ered, or acted upon by the mycological community. Not coinci- Given to the Conservation of Fungi Third International Congress on Fungal dently, fungi are rarely included in broader conservation discus- Conservation sions, policy decisions, or land management plans. However, Micromycology from a Smartphone species of fungi are not immune to the threats that put species of and a Hand Lens Emerging Frontiers in Tropical Science Workshop animals and plants at risk. Fungal species are threated by habitat MSA Business loss, loss of symbiotic hosts, pollution, over exploitation, and cli- Executive Vice President’s Report mate change, but the conservation status of the vast majority of MSA Directory 2013-2014 fungal species has not been assessed. Editor’s Note: Julia Kerrigan New Inoculum Editor! Over 21,000 animal, fungal, and plant species are globally MSA Awards 2013 red-listed (IUCN 2013). However, only one macrofungus and two MSA Student Section lichenized fungi are included in that list. This is despite the fact Happy New Year Poster from the MSA Student Section that approximately 5000 macrofungi, 1000 lichenized fungi, and Mycological News some species of other fungal groups are included in individual Call for MSA Council Nominations country red-lists. In the USA, 4268 species (mostly lichenized MSA Awards 2014 Announcement fungi) are included in the NatureServe database. The near lack of MSA Undergraduate Research Award fungi on the global Red List greatly hinders the inclusion of fungi Announcement Hanlin Symposium Invitation in conservation discussions, access to funding programs, policy Lichtwardt Mycologia Volumes Find a New decisions, and conservation action. Home at the University of Brasilia New Phone App: FungiNote Reasons to produce fungal Red Lists: Mycological Classifieds • Decision makers need good information on the conserva- Biological Control, Biotechnology tion status and trends of fungi. and Regulatory Services • Red Lists communicate the presence and value of fungi to Mold and Fungus Testing and Identification Services Mycology Books for Sale politicians, decision-makers and other stake-holders in- cluding the public at large. Mycological Bookshelf Books in Need of Reviewers • Red List evaluations identify gaps in our knowledge of Review: Biology of Marine Fungi fungal biology and diversity – e.g., taxonomic problems, Mycological Jobs distribution and autecological requirements, difficulty of Assistant Professor, Mycology, Auburn University identifying and defining individuals, and, challenges of de- Post-Doctoral Associate, Pennsylvania State University termining the drivers and constraints on population dy- namics. This is also important to help researchers to iden- Mycology On-Line Calendar of Events tify appropriate research questions and to motivate such Sustaining Members research. — Important Dates — • Omission of fungi in Red Lists invites the mistaken con- January 15, 2014 clusion from conservation agencies that fungi are either not Deadline for submission to Inoculum 65(1) threatened or, worse, that mycologists are disinterested in February 15, 2014 fungal conservation. Deadline for MSA award nominations A concerted effort by the mycological community is needed to March 31, 2014 address this problem. Unlike the situation in plant and most animal Deadline of early registration for MSA 2014 Annual Meeting groups, fungal conservation is a new focus. Until recently, fungi were classified as one group under plants in the IUCN Species Survival Editor — Donald O. Natvig Commission (SSC) Hierarchy. The elevation of Fungi to an inde- Department of Biology pendent area of focus with five discrete SSC Specialist Groups during University of New Mexico the 2009-2012 quadrennium was an important advance Albuquerque, NM 87131 http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/species/who_we_are/ss Telephone: (505) 277-5977 Fax: (505) 277-0304 c_specialist_groups_and_red_list_authorities_directory/fungi/ Signif- Email: [email protected] Continued on following page icantly, IUCN members passed a resolution calling for all com- of nominated fungi (in use, but still in development) ponent parts of IUCN and the conservation movement more gen- http://iucn.ekoo.se/en/iucn erally, to place much greater emphasis and priority on the con- • We request and encourage the nominations of species servation of fungi during last year’s World Conservation for evaluation and data of their distribution, ecology, Congress (see associated article). status and trends from all members of the mycologi- There are now a number of national and regional fungal cal community (professional and amateur). The goal conservation committees. The MSA Conservation Commit- is to both develop a list of candidate species that are tee was formed in 2008 and The International Society for likely to be globally red listed if evaluated and to en- Fungal Conservation was formed in August 2010. Symposia gage as much of the mycological community as pos- sible. Rather than make a priori decisions on which on fungal conservation have now been held during several rd taxa or how many species to assess, the initiative en- national and regional conferences and the 3 International courages community involvement with a goal to de- Congress on Fungal Congress just took place in Turkey 11- velop a list that is taxonomically and geographically 15 November http://www.fungal-conservation.org/icfc3/ inclusive and that includes a sufficient number of These are all important steps, but much more is needed to co- good candidate species to ensure that a significant ordinate this growing awareness and interest and to provide number of species will be assessed. a program for interested mycologists to contribute to conser- • Undertake a preliminary assessment and identify vation efforts. To this end, the five IUCN SSC Fungal Spe- data gaps; develop the finalized list of species to be cialist Groups, with the collaboration of the IUCN SSC of- fully assessed. The five Fungal Specialist Groups, fice and Red List Unit and funding from the Mohamed bin with the help of the Red List Unit, will use the data Zayed Species Conservation Fund, have developed the submitted through the website to undertake a prelim- “Global Fungal Red List Initiative inary assessment and identify data gaps. Information from this preliminary assessment, together with the GLOBAL FUNGAL RED LIST INITIATIVE data forming the basis for the evaluation (e.g., global An 18-month long program (running to the end of 2014) distribution map, ecological info, description of threats, references etc.) and photos will be available to significantly add to the number of fungal species evaluat- on the website. The community can supplement the ed and submitted for inclusion in the IUCN Global Red List pre-assessments with additional data and/or com- has been established. The goal is to include global represen- ments. The finalized list of species for evaluation will tation of fungi from all major taxonomic groups in the initia- consist of all the nominated species for which ade- tive. We aim for a couple of hundred species. The results of quate data are available. Formal assessments will be this initiative will highlight that: undertaken during a workshop for members of the • Fungi are in need of conservation Fungal Specialist Groups, selected other mycologists, and IUCN SSC and Red List Unit staff. The IUCN fa- • Fungi can be, and need to be, part of the broader con- cilitators will ensure that the assessments meet all the servation agenda documentation requirements. The initiative aims to raise the awareness of fungal con- • Disseminate the information to the scientific and servation among mycologists, the conservation community, conservation community, publicize the results to policy makers and the general public. It will serve as forum the general public, and build upon the work to fur- to educate, inspire, and engage the mycological community. ther conservation efforts. This initiative will not be The work will also identify knowledge gaps that impede fun- considered an end to the process. Rather, it will serve gal red listing, integrate fungi into general conservation ini- as the start of the mycological community and IUCN tiatives, open up funding opportunities to address listed fun- to build upon the results and the enthusiasm and con- gal species, and address a key activity of the IUCN Species tributions of the mycological community that was de- veloped during the initiative to significantly move Survival Committee (i.e., global red listing). fungal conservation forward. The initiative consists of five steps: (1) develop a list of species to assess, (2) collect the data needed for assessment, This is an exciting and important time for fungal con- (3) undertake a preliminary assessment and identify data servation. We have the attention of IUCN and other conser- gaps; develop the finalized list of species to be fully as- vation organizations. It is critically important that we take sessed, (4) perform assessment on the finalized list of species advantage of the opportunities that this attention affords. We and submit the results to IUCN, (5) disseminate the informa- encourage you to participate in this initiative. Please contact tion