MYCOLOGIST NEWS The newsletter of the British Mycological Society 2013 (3) Edited by Prof. Pieter van West and Dr Anpu Varghese 2013 BMS Council BMS Council and Committee Members 2013 President Prof. Geoffrey D. Robson Vice-President Prof. Bruce Ing President Elect Prof Nick Read Treasurer Prof. Geoff M Gadd Secretary Position vacant Publications Officer Prof. Pieter van West International Initiatives Adviser Prof. AJ Whalley Fungal Biology Research Committee representatives: Dr. Elaine Bignell; Prof Nick Read Fungal Education and Outreach Committee: Dr. Paul S. Dyer; Dr Ali Ashby Field Mycology and Conservation: Dr. Stuart Skeates, Mrs Dinah Griffin Fungal Biology Research Committee Prof. Nick Read (Chair) retiring 31.12. 2013 Dr. Elaine Bignell retiring 31.12. 2013 Dr. Mark Ramsdale retiring 31.12. 2013 Prof. Pieter van West retiring 31.12. 2013 Dr. Sue Crosthwaite retiring 31.12. 2014 Prof. Mick Tuite retiring 31.12. 2014 Dr Alex Brand retiring 31.12. 2015 Fungal Education and Outreach Committee Dr. Paul S. Dyer (Chair and FBR link) retiring 31.12. 2013 Dr. Ali Ashby retiring 31.12. 2013 Dr. Sue Assinder retiring 31.12. 2013 Dr. Kay Yeoman retiring 31.12. 2013 Alan Williams retiring 31.12. 2014 Prof Lynne Boddy (Media Liaison) retiring 31.12. 2014 Dr. Elaine Bignell retiring 31.12. 2015 Field Mycology and Conservation Committee Dr. Stuart Skeates (Chair, website & FBR link) retiring 31.12. 2014 Prof Richard Fortey retiring 31.12. 2013 Mrs. Sheila Spence retiring 31.12. 2013 Mrs Dinah Griffin retiring 31.12. 2014 Dr. Martyn Ainsworth retiring 31.12. 2013 Mr Justin Smith retiring 31.12. 2015 Mr David Harries (Recording Network Co-ordinator) retiring 31.12. 2015 Contacts BMS Administrator President: [email protected] British Mycological Society Treasurer: [email protected] City View House Mycologist News: [email protected] Union Street BMS Administrator: [email protected] Manchester M12 4JD BMS Membership: [email protected] Tel: +44(0) 161 277 7638 / 7639 Fax: +44(0) 161 277 7634 2 From the Office Hi and welcome to the third issue of the BMS newsletter. Contents Autumn is almost upon us and the foray season will soon be underway. Red List of Fungi for Great Britain 4 One of the highlights this year (and hopefully in successive years) will be the UK Fungus Day Bursary Report - Matthew Lloyd 5 This event spread over the weekend of October 12th and 13th will see events happening all across the UK. Look on the website http:// Bursary Report - Andrei-Stefan Lia 6 ukfungusday.co.uk/ under ‘news and events’ for what’s happening where you are. Small Grant Report 7 As with all BMS organised forays or field events, we hope you enjoy the wonderful diversity of Obituary - Gordon Dickson 9 fungi, and continue to support the conservation and preservation of the fungi in its natural habitat for others to enjoy too. UK Fungus Day 10 For anyone who missed the BBC Radio 4’s Forum on ‘The Hidden Kingdom of Fungi’ on 3rd BMS Autumn Open Meeting 12 August, you can still listen again on the iPlayerRadio or copy this link into your browser: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b037r5dc And for any eagle-eyed website users, you may have noticed a new section within the Field Mycology section of the website. Under Microscopy we have included a section called Suppliers. We shall be uploading information on businesses that supply relevant equipment or other appropriate supplies, detailing their website/business information. The businesses that appear on this list are not charged by the BMS and the BMS are not recommending or endorsing these businesses. We are simply responding to membership requests of having a list of places that supply relevant materials for the Field Mycologist. The businesses listed will be from individual membership recommendations and businesses contacting us directly wanting to be added to the list. Best Wishes, The BMS Office Team Copy deadline for next issue: 1 November 2013 Norman Porrett Sophie Embleton Administrator BMS Office Field Mycology Assistant 3 Red List of Fungi for Great Britain: Boletaceae is out now on JNCC website! There have been two previous fungal red-listing Of the 68 accepted GB Boletaceae taxa (66 exercises in Great Britain (GB). The first of these species and two varieties) assessed, 37 (54%) historic Red Data Lists (RDLs) was “A are now considered to be on the on the RDL as Provisional Red Data List of British Fungi” (Ing threatened or may be threatened now or in the 1992) which expressed levels of risk using the near future (CR, EN, VU, NT, DD) with the IUCN categories available at the time and was following breakdown by category: based on data from “foray lists, herbarium and literature sources and by discussion with EX 00 00% NT 06 09% experienced field mycologists”. This was CR 00 00% LC 28 41% superseded by an online list, the current RDL, EN 05 07% DD 18 27% entitled “Preliminary Assessment: The Red Data VU 08 12% NE 03 04% List of Threatened British Fungi” (Evans et al. Total 68 100% 2006). This covers GB and the Isle of Man, again using IUCN categories, and was compiled on Red-listed bolete taxa by category: behalf of the British Mycological Society (BMS). The lists were not published by the Joint Nature EN: Boletus fechtneri, Boletus fragrans, Boletus Conservation Committee (JNCC), a body pseudoregius, Boletus pseudosulphureus, approved by the International Union for Buchwaldoboletus sphaerocephalus. Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for quality assuring regional RDLs, and so they did not VU: Boletus legaliae, Boletus moravicus, Boletus achieve official recognition. rhodopurpureus, Boletus satanas, Buchwaldoboletus lignicola, Leccinum vulpinum, A pilot project was undertaken earlier this year to Phylloporus pelletieri, Rubinoboletus rubinus. assess a group of fungi, in their entirety, against Red Listing criteria. It was decided that the NT: Aureoboletus gentilis, Boletus aereus, Boletaceae would be the optimum family to begin Boletus pinophilus, Leccinum duriusculum, with as they are familiar to most recorders, Porphyrellus porphyrosporus, Strobilomyces relatively ‘easily identified’ with up to date and strobilaceus. readily accessible literature, and have potential threats to populations (eg habitat loss, incorrect DD: Boletus armeniacus, Boletus bubalinus, site management and indiscriminate collecting). Boletus declivitatum, Boletus depilatus, Boletus The project was funded by Natural England, but immutatus, Boletus luridiformis var. discolor, covered all of Great Britain, and relied on data Boletus luridus var. rubriceps, Boletus ripariellus, from the two largest existing databases; CATE2 Boletus subappendiculatus, Boletus torosus, managed by the ABFG (Association of British Leccinum albostipitatum, Leccinum Fungus Groups) and FRDBI managed by the cyaneobasileucum, Leccinum melaneum, BMS. The Kew Fungarium provided record Leccinum schistophilum, Octaviania expansion and clarification for rarer species. asterosperma, Wakefieldia macrospora, Xerocomus Taxa assigned to three of the IUCN Red List chrysonemus, Xerocomus silwoodensis categories Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN) and Vulnerable (VU) are Further details can be found at: regarded as Threatened. Other taxa were http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/pdf/ assigned to Near Threatened (NT) if close to SpeciesStatus14_web.pdf Vulnerable, Data Deficient if only recently described (so actual distribution not fully known), with definitions of Red Listing Criteria at: http:// and Least Concern (LC) if populations were jr.iucnredlist.org/documents/ widespread and frequent. Some species were redlist_cats_crit_en.pdf Not Evaluated (NE) if not authentically British. This includes Boletus regius and Boletus Justin Smith rhodoxanthus. 4 BMS Bursary Report Combative interactions between white rot fungi colonising beech wood at different stages of decay Matthew Lloyd Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University Supervisor Professor Lynne Boddy After completing my second year of Biology as Wood block pairings were secured together with an undergraduate at Cardiff University, I an elastic band, which was later removed upon received a bursary from the BMS and began a interaction establishment (Fig 1). All paired 10 week summer placement project, supervised wood blocks were incubated at 20 oC in small by Professor Lynne Boddy. The placement plastic pots on a bed of perlite, to which 6 cm3 of helped me gain a view into the day to day distilled water was added. Each experimental career workings of a real research lab, and the system was weighed, and recorded; the wood project gave me the idea of what was to be was gently sprayed every week to maintain this expected as a fungal biology researcher. weight and the original water content. At the end of the experiment the interaction outcomes The aim of the project was to determine how were determined by reisolation of mycelia from the state of decay of beech wood resources within the wood blocks onto malt agar. The colonised by different white rot fungal species wood density was estimated using fresh wood affects their combative and decay ability. block dimensions and their dry weight (including Interspecific pairings were set up between 2 × 2 fungal biomass), and rate of decay was × 2 cm beech wood blocks that had been determined by comparison with the density of colonised for either 3, 6 or 12 months. Six colonised wood blocks at the start of the species of white rot fungi Bjerkandera adusta, project. Hypholoma fasciculare, Phanerochaete velutina, Stereum hirsutum, Trametes versicolor The reisolation part of the project was sadly and Vuilleminia comedens were selected. beyond my summer research period, but has Interspecific pairings were set up in all been completed by Lynne’s post-doc Jennifer combinations of species and decay state. Hiscox and technician Mel Savoury. Interestingly the state of decay at the start sometimes affected the outcome of interactions, but this varied depending on combination of interacting species. I am very grateful to the BMS for providing me with this opportunity, and Professor Lynne Boddy and Dr Jennifer Hiscox for supporting me throughout the project.