What Every Botanist and Zoologist Should Know

What Every Botanist and Zoologist Should Know

What every botanist and zoologist should know – and what every mycologist should be telling them1 OPINION provide fungi with the separate identity they in the world explicitly and exclusively ready deserve and so urgently need. Fungi are still to take up the political job of lobbying for being treated as lower plants (“they’re part fungal protection. To be fair, various botani- of botany, aren’t they?”) or microorganisms cal societies and non-governmental organiza- (“I think they’re like bacteria...”) and, either tions (NGOs) have done their bit to make way, the result is that they are overlooked and sure fungi were not totally forgotten, but misunderstood by politicians and the general those honourable efforts, very understand- public alike. ably, could never be more than a side show of their main work to protect plants. The result Orphans of Rio. The 1992 Rio Convention was that, by and large, the only consideration on Biological Diversity is a classic example these beautiful, remarkable and critically of how that mindset has been disastrous for important organisms gained from the con- the fungi. The Convention was framed in servation movement was incidental – and terms of animals, plants, and microorgan- often accidental. That is now changing. The For fungal conservation to succeed, a con- isms: two taxonomic kingdoms and a third Species Survival Commission of the Interna- sistent message is needed. We, as mycolo- group arbitrarily defined on the basis of tional Union for the Conservation of Nature gists, should be singing the right song, and size. Not surprisingly, these categories fail to (IUCN) has more than doubled the number we need to make sure too that our friends in accommodate the fungi. Fungi form their of its fungal specialist groups and, in August botany and zoology are also singing it. This own megadiverse biological kingdom which 2010, the International Society for Fungal short note is all about the message of that is separate from animals and plants. It has Conservation was established (see above). At song. As President of the newly established been recognized as such since at least 1970, last there is an infant conservation movement International Society for Fungal Conserva- and cannot possibly be shoe-horned into an for the fungi. tion (see IMA FUNGUS 1(2): (27–29), arbitrary size category like “microorganism”. 2010; www.fungal-conservation.org), I ap- After all, the largest individual organism in This is where botanists and zoologists peal to you to take on board this message, the world is said to be a fungus. Fungi are come in. Botanists and zoologists have an and to help by spreading it not only to other the “orphans of Rio” (www.fungal-con- enormously important role to play in help- mycologists but also to botanists and zoolo- servation.org/blogs/orphans-of-rio. ing this movement develop. As informed gists, and to everyone you know involved in pdf): the Convention has given them the and educated scientists, they should be biodiversity work, nature conservation, and right to protection, but none of the means aware that the animals and plants in their ecology. by which this can be achieved, and that’s bad care cannot survive long-term unless fungi for conservation, because fungi are so enor- are also protected, so they should under- In the conservation world, fungi are the new mously important. None of the species we stand the huge significance of this emerging kids on the block. The movements to protect work with in nature conservation – humans movement. They should not need to be told birds and mammals have been around for included – could survive in a world with- that fungal conservation needs to become over a century. Plants have been at the core of out fungi. And fungi need protection too: much larger because it is working for a king- conservation for decades. Amphibians, fish, nobody seriously supposes that, uniquely in dom of Life which evidently contains more and reptiles all now have their Red-Lists, and evolution, they have some magical property species than all the plants and vertebrates on the last few years have seen a great growth in which makes them immune to habitat de- Earth put together. Also, they should under- awareness that invertebrates also need protec- struction, pollution, and climate change. stand that, at this stage in its development, tion. Somehow, somewhere along the line, fungal conservation needs to be promoted the fungi missed out, and the reasons don’t In conservation terms, fungi have a lot to a general public which is unfamiliar with make happy reading. Right from its earliest of catching up to do. Conservation is a the idea. They are the people with experi- days in the 18th century, when Linnaeus cat- combination of science and politics. The sci- ence of public relations in conservation. egorized all living things either as animals or ence says, “populations of these organisms They are the people who get contacted when as plants, the science of biology has failed to are declining”. The politics says, “something governments, the press, or funding organiza- needs to be done about it”. The scientific side tions need an expert. They are the people we 1 A modified version of this note, suitable to pass of fungal conservation has existed since at mycologists need to help us fly this flag. directly to botanist and zoologist colleagues, is avail- least 1985, when the European Council for able as a downloadable PDF from the website of the Conservation of Fungi was established (www. And that is where you as mycologists come International Society for Fungal Conservation (www. wsl.ch/eccf ) but, given the importance of in. The previous paragraph indicates what fungal-conservation.org/blogs/message-to- fungi, it’s all the more amazing that, until very botanists and zoologists “should” do, but botanists-and-zoologists.pdf) recently, there was no organization anywhere unfortunately that doesn’t mean they “do”. (14) IMA FUNGUS They are our colleagues and fungal conserva- betical order. In making such changes, you % If your own organization deals with OPINION tion is in their interest too, but they have will be demonstrating that you have an fungi, recognize the fact in infrastruc- their own priorities and concerns and they open mind, and you will be in-step with tural terms, and make it clear to out- may not always have in mind how important an increasing number of prestigious bodies siders. Many national botanic gardens, it is for the conservation of animals and and programmes. The Atlas of Living Aus- for example, maintain their country’s plants that they too support action for fun- tralia, Natural England, the Natural His- fungal reference collection, but that is gi. Our task as mycologists is to give them tory Museum of London and the Swedish very rarely reflected in their infrastruc- that information and appraise them of the Taxonomy Initiative have all recognized ture, publicity material, or name. If the action required: to make sure they are aware the need to make such changes to their plant collection has a dedicated “keep- of the relevance of fungi and to motivate websites. er” or “curator”, the fungus collection, them so that they too ensure fungi are not no less important and no less valuable, overlooked. Here, in no particular order, are % If you see terms misused by others, merits one too, and at the same rank. some ways we can do that. Each is a simple challenge them. It’s a bad idea to mis- And what a pity those national fungal but important message to communicate to use these terms as a shorthand for bio- reference collections don’t have their our botanist and zoologist colleagues. Each diversity, and it’s also a bad idea to let own websites; holding a national fungal point is also a stance we too should be tak- others make the same mistake. A quick reference collection is something to be ing – we can not expect them to act, if we tour of the websites of institutions re- proud of and to celebrate. It deserves are not also clearly in support. sponsible for biodiversity, conservation its own identity and website. It is re- and ecology will show how widespread grettable that information about these % “Fauna and flora” is not shorthand the above misuses are, and how these international treasures is usually con- for “biodiversity”. The same goes for phrases continually inhibit the public fined as an afterthought to a tiny ghetto “animals and plants” and “botany and awareness and profile of fungi. The corner of a botanic garden or museum zoology”. These phrases are often used “fauna and flora” legacy of Linnaeus website. All the visual signals on such as though they encompass all life. They is a poisoned chalice – an intellectual websites shout “plant”, and none shouts do not. Each is a lazy and misleading straitjacket which has done enormous “fungus”. A separate website for a fun- shorthand which generates a misleading harm to mycology. Botanic gardens, gal collection would mean mycologists signal that inhibits awareness of fungi. botanical museums, and other botani- ceasing to complain about inappro- In particular, using the terms “flora” cal institutes with mycological depart- priate logos, mission statements, and and “plants” as though they include ments or programmes are particularly “strap-lines”. More significantly, a sepa- fungi, perpetuates a problem which has prone: often totally failing to present rate identity for a national fungus col- been festering since the time of Lin- fungi to the public. lection could provide the institution’s naeus. These words are often used in the director with an additional argument mistaken belief that “the public won’t % Be sympathetic to the use of fungus- when looking for money, and would understand anything more complicated”.

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