Supplement to Mycologia Vol. 52(5) October 2001 Newsletter of the Mycological Society of America -- In This Issue -- The Costa Rican National Fungal Inventory: A Large-Scale Collaborative Project Costa Rican Fungal Inventory ................. 1-4 Should Coprinus Type be Changed ............. 5 by Gregory M. Mueller and Milagro Mata The Colon in Scientific Authorities .............. 6 Questions or comments should be sent to Greg Mueller via Department of MSA Official Business Botany, THE FIELD MUSEUM, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL, President’s Corner ................................ 7-8 60605 or Email: <[email protected]>. MSA Council Express Mail ...................... 8 UNGI WERE CHOSEN to be included as a core component of the From the Editor ....................................... 8 Costa Rican National Inventory because of their great ecologi MSA Job Openings ............................... 9 Fcal and economic importance. The National Inventory is being Annual Reports: Officers ................... 9-12 coordinated by the Costa Rican National Biodiversity Institute Annual Reports: Publications........... 12-14 (INBio) and is being supported by funds from The World Bank, the Annual Reports: Committees ........... 15-20 Norwegian Agency for International Development (NORAD), and the Annual Reports: Representatives..... 20-23 Dutch Government. The National Inventory encompasses rigorous Annual Reports: Assignments............... 24 surveys of fungi, plants, various insect groups, mollusks, and Forms nematodes. In addition to capturing diversity data, the National Inventory’s efforts are aimed at obtaining detailed information about Change of Address ............................... 6 species distributions throughout the country and identifying those Endowment & Contributions ............. 33 features of the species’ natural history that can contribute to protect- Gift Membership ............................... 35 ing them, using them, and managing them adequately. Society Membership .......................... 36 Mycological News ............................... 24-26 Mycologist’s Bookshelf ...................... 27-31 Reviews: “From Ethnomycology to Fungal Biotechnology: Exploiting Fungi from Natural Resources for Novel Products;” “Molecules, Morphology and Classification: Towards Monophyletic Genera in The Ascomycetes.” Mycological Classifieds ....................... 31-32 Mycology On-Line ................................... 32 Sustaining Members ............................ 34-35 ~Important Dates ~ October 15: Deadline: Inoculum 52(6) June 22-29: MSA 2002, Corvallis OR Editor: Donald G. Ruch Fig. 1. Participants in the 1st Fungal Workshop. 21-24 April1998, INBio, Costa Rica. 1st row left to right-- Kathie Hodge (Cornell), Maria Elena Department of Biology Naranjo (INBio), Sabine Huhndorf (Field Museum), Milagro Mata (INBio, Ball State University co-organizer), Nancy Weber (Oregon State U.). 2nd row left to right—Carlos Muncie, IN 47306-0440 Mario Rodríguez (INBio), Harrie Sipman (Botanic Garden and Botanical 765.285.8829 FA X 765.285.8804 Museum of Berlin), Loengrin Umaña (INBio), Greg Mueller (Field Museum, [email protected] co-organizer), Leif Ryvarden (U. Oslo). Not shown: Gro Gulden (Botanical Museum, Oslo), Julieta Carranza (U. Costa Rica), Armando Ruiz (National MSA Homepage: Museum of Costa Rica), and Priscila Chaverri (INBio, Costa Rica, currently http://msafungi.org Penn State U.). Photo by Gro Gulden. Costa Rica is a logical choice to The Fungal undertake a large-scale fungal inventory. Inventory has been It is one of the few Central American an international countries that have an active systematic project since its mycology program, thus allowing for inception and early excellent collaboration. It ranks as one of planning stages. the top 20 countries in biodiversity of The initial planning plants and animals. Within a relatively workshop for the small area, there are numerous ecosys- Fungal Inventory tems ranging from mangrove forests on was held at INBio the coasts to alpine vegetation in the April 21-24 1998. páramo. Much data are available on the Fourteen partici- ecology and species composition of pants from Costa plants and animals in the country Rica, Germany, providing comparative data for the Norway, and the resulting mycological information. U.S. were charged Because of the long-term commitment to with developing a the conservation of national parks and plan for including reserves, it is likely that the study sites fungi in the National will be available for future work and long- Inventory (Fig. 1). term studies. Finally, the National Their recommenda- Biodiversity Inventory of Costa Rica tions included: Fig. 2. Map of Costa Rica showing the location of the 5 Conserva- affords an unprecedented opportunity tion Areas that are included in the Fungal Inventory -- La Amistad- 1. Restrict the Caribe, La Amistad-Pacífico, Arenal-Tilarán, Osa, and Tempisque. for such an inventory by making groups of fungi available human and financial resources included in the Inventory. Because of potential availability of international and by providing a wider context and the great diversity of fungi, and the collaborators to participate in the audience for the resulting data. very different protocols and scientific Inventory. The Costa Rican National Fungal expertise necessary to sample and 2. Restrict the study area to be Inventory is one of the largest and most identify this diversity, the group surveyed. Because of the great ambitious inventories to be undertaken recognized that only a select group of diversity of habitats and the high in a tropical region. In addition to serving taxa could be included in the Inventory biodiversity of Costa Rica, the as a model for large-scale inventories, it at the onset. They recommended workshop participants agreed that it can serve as great example of interna- targeting macrofungi (agarics, poly- was necessary to restrict sampling to a tional collaboration. The project is only pores, gasteromycetes, corticoid fungi, manageable number of sites. They possible because of the active participa- large discomycetes, etc.), collectable recommended that the Fungal Inven- tion of the number of collaborators who microfungi (discomycetes, pyreno- tory focus on 5 Conservation Areas: have been working together to help set mycetes, loculoascomycetes, etc.), and La Amistad-Caribe, La Amistad- the project’s agenda, develop protocols, lichenized fungi for the Inventory. Pacífico, Arenal-Tilarán, Osa, and build in-country capacity, train students These taxonomic / ecological groups Tempisque (Fig. 2). These Conserva- and parataxonomists, undertake field- were chosen based on their ecological tion Areas were chosen because they work, identify material, and disseminate and economic importance, the potential encompass most of the country’s the resulting data. In addition to the core products that could be developed, the ecological zones, thereby enabling the grants to the National Inventory being taxonomic expertise of the mycological survey to capture a representative administered by INBio, grants from community in Costa Rica, and on the sample of the country’s fungal various sources to individual research- biodiversity. These ers, especially grants from NSF to Greg Conservation Areas were Mueller and Roy Halling for macrofungi also selected by the animal (DEB-9300798, DEB–9972018 and DEB– and plant inventories. 9972027) and to Sabine Huhndorf and 3. Develop standardized Fernando Fernández for microfungi protocols for each group (DEB-0072684), have been critically that incorporates both important by providing support for some opportunistic sampling of the international collaboration and and quantitative, plot- coordination necessary to further based, sampling methods. enhance the capacity of the Costa This will enable a thor- Rican mycological community to carry ough sampling of fungal out this ambitious project. Fig. 3. Fernando Fernández working with parataxonomists. 2 Fig. 5. A parataxonomist collecting Macrocybe titans from a leaf cutter ant nest in the Arenal Conservation Area. Fig. 4. A parataxonomists measuring one of mollusks, and nematodes. Additionally, What does fungal distribution data tell the logs to be sampled as part of the protocol much is known regarding the diversity us about the formation and maintenance for qualitatively sampling fungi on woody and species composition of Costa Rican of Costa Rican forests? For example, do substrata. mammals, birds, butterflies, and other fungi show evidence of the “Great taxa.] American Interchange” following the diversity and generate data to enable How do fungal species diversity and closure of the Panamanian Portal 3+ comparisons among taxa and sites within species composition data compare million years before present as plant and Costa Rica and to data being generated in among different tropical ecosystems? animal species compositions do? other countries. -- tropical dry forests What are the fine scale biogeographic 4. Hire and train at least one -- lowland rain forests patterns seen in a diverse tropical parataxonomists in each Conservation -- mid-elevation cloud forests country – Pacific coast vs. Caribbean Area that will be dedicated to sampling -- montane forests dominated by coast, north vs. south, low-land versus fungi throughout the year. species of Quercus montane, etc.? A follow-up workshop was held November 1-4, 1999 to finalize protocols and to initiate the inventory. Since then, we have carried out several training courses