Two Web-Accessible Fungus Databases and Their Relationship to a Preliminary List of Rare Macrofungi for British Columbia Brenda E. Callan Canadian Forest Service Natural Resources Canada, Pacific Forestry Centre 506 West Burnside Road, Victoria, BC, V8Z 1M5, Canada [email protected] ABSTRACT Two databases documenting in detail the vast fungal biodiversity in British Columbia are now accessible on the Internet at http://www.pfc.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/biodiversity/herbarium. The British Columbia Host-Fungus Index Database was compiled from 60 years of Canadian Forest Service disease identification data, and published literature records. It was designed to reliably document fungi occurring on native plants and other forest substrates in British Columbia, with the exception of agricultural crops and introduced ornamental plants. The Host-Fungus Index holds records of 3,481 fungus species on 1,710 different plant hosts and other substrates. More than 4,690 of these records are verified by herbarium specimens curated at the Pacific Forestry Centre. Records of >20,000 herbarium specimens are housed in a separate Herbarium Database accessible at the same Web site. The Herbarium Database records can be sorted and mapped by region, date, species, collector, and various other categories. The 2 databases were used to augment and verify a very preliminary list of potentially rare macrofungi (large fleshy or woody fungi) in British Columbia. Mycologists are invited to submit additional records in order to either confirm or dispel the beliefs that these fungi are truly rare and not just undercollected. Logistical challenges surround the creation of lists of rare fungi. Field identification may not be feasible. Specimens often have to be cultured, or verified by distant experts. Fleshy fungi soon lose colour, shape, and other features, so detailed field notes must be made from fresh specimens. Contributions from amateur mycological societies enrich our databases, provided that new records are properly documented. Key words: database, forest pathology, fungus, macrofungi. borrow collections in order to reexamine them using new taxonomic information and research techniques. More than 140 type specimens are also deposited in DAVFP. The ma- HERBARIUM VOUCHER jority of DAVFP collections were made by rangers and re- SPECIMEN DATABASE search scientists affiliated with the now defunct Canadian The Forest Pathology Herbarium at the Canadian Forest Forest Service Forest Insect and Disease Survey (FIDS), over Service’s Pacific Forestry Centre (PFC) houses an interna- 50 years of regular monitoring for forest pests throughout tionally recognized collection of >35,300 preserved and cat- the Pacific and Yukon Region. The PFC still maintains a alogued forest fungi and disease specimens, representing strong commitment to maintain and expand the current col- >3,400 different fungal species. It is known internationally lections, with greater emphasis on fungal biodiversity re- by the acronym DAVFP, and is listed in the Index search in recent years. Herbariorum (Holmgren et al. 1990), a catalogue of the Until a few years ago, records of herbarium holdings were world’s herbaria. The acronym is derived from “Department documented in 3 ways: labels on the specimens; hand-writ- of Agriculture, Victoria, Forest Pathology,” and is based ten accession books used to assign an individual number to upon the herbarium’s affiliation at the time of its establish- each new specimen; and filed FIDS data forms. To search or ment in 1940. examine these records was time-consuming, and required One of the primary uses of DAVFP is for depositing vouch- either a written request or a visit to the herbarium. Several er collections of new fungus distribution records. The years ago, the DAVFP staff began the slow process of con- voucher collections enable current and future researchers to verting herbarium records to an electronic format. Some of examine biological specimens in order to confirm published the data were downloaded from a national FIDS database research, or quarantine records. Scientists frequently also and reformatted, while the remainder were converted from L. M. Darling, editor. 2000. Proceedings of a Conference on the Biology and Management of Species and Habitats at Risk, Kamloops, B.C., 15 - 19 Feb.,1999. Volume One. B.C. Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Victoria, B.C. and University College of the Cariboo, Kamloops, B.C. 490pp. 109 CALLAN written records to spreadsheets. In 1998, Dr. Alan Thomson, database. Two Canadian compendia (Conners 1967, Ginns of the Pacific Forestry Centre, and a student, Jonathan Bahl, 1986) are cited for many of the “literature records” herein. converted these massive spreadsheets into the Herbarium They in turn lead to further citations and information re- Voucher Specimen Database, available at garding voucher specimen locations in herbaria other than http://www.pfc.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/biodiversity/herbarium. DAVFP. The revised format of the Index, and taxonomic This database currently documents >21,000 of the speci- modernization is loosely based upon Farr et al. (1989). mens housed at DAVFP, and may be searched by several dif- ferent parameters. The data are organized under such fields BRITISH COLUMBIA MACROFUNGI as “Fungus,” “Host,” “Determiner” (person making the iden- tification), and “Collector,” as well as other categories. Although it might be argued that the data described above Selecting the Web page radio button designating the first let- merely “scratch the surface” of the true fungal biodiversity ter of the subject further narrows these fields. This executes in British Columbia, these databases can be used to check a search of the database, which returns an updated short-list records pertaining to some potentially rare macrofungi in of names to choose from. One of these names may then be the province. “Macrofungi” herein refers to an artificial selected and the form submitted. This will return all of the grouping of fungus species producing fruiting bodies >1 cm records available that meet the search criteria. Currently, in diameter. Macrofungi are more likely to be observed by synonyms are not linked, so the searcher should be aware of amateur naturalists or trained parataxonomists, and can the taxonomic and nomenclatural history of the species of often be recognized to genus or species by the collector in interest. If there is geographic (UTM, latitude/longitude) in- the field. For this reason they may be good candidates for formation available for the record, the searcher can select a preliminary biodiversity studies. link, which will draw a map showing the collection location. Redhead (1997) lists 65 species of rare or notable macro- A distribution map of all of the collection locations in a par- fungi found in British Columbia, and has assigned prelimi- ticular search may also be generated, by scrolling to the end nary status designations for many of these species, based of the list and selecting the “submit” button there. Searches upon the same designations used by the Conservation Data may also be conducted on “Locality” (nearest town or Centre of the British Columbia Ministry of Environment, drainage division), DAVFP number, or year of collection. Lands and Parks. Most of the species on the list are fleshy Systematists, naturalists, foresters, and other interested in- fungi in the order Agaricales, commonly known as mush- dividuals can use this database to rapidly determine which rooms. The reason for this bias is that the majority of the pi- species of fungi are housed in the herbarium. A specimen oneer studies in fungal biodiversity have been, or are collection slip and collection protocols may also be down- currently, conducted on agarics. The taxonomic experts pro- loaded from this web site and used by those wishing to con- viding verification of this list, including Dr. Redhead himself, tribute samples to the herbarium. reside elsewhere in Canada. Consequently most of the voucher specimens for these records reside elsewhere as well. In fact, a search of the DAVFP database revealed that BRITISH COLUMBIA only 3 of the 65 listed species (Hypholoma tuberosum, HOST-FUNGUS INDEX Ossicaulis lignatilis, and Phaeocollybia kauffmanii) are A second database, the British Columbia Host-Fungus Index, represented by collections in this herbarium. This lack of was compiled from 60 years of Canadian Forest Service nearby reference specimens makes it difficult for regional records, augmented from published literature records and taxonomists to confirm the identity of future collections. additional data provided by Agriculture/Agrifood Canada. Research on agaric biodiversity provides much valuable in- The Host-Fungus Index has been designed to assist in the formation, as many of these species are intimately associat- identification and formal documentation of fungi occurring ed with indigenous plants as mycorrhizal symbionts or on native plants in the province of British Columbia, with parasites. However, mushroom collection studies are often the exception of most agricultural crops and horticultural or- limited to narrow windows of opportunity during fall fruiting namental (nonnative) plant species. It is organized in a man- season, which may last a few days or a few weeks at most. ner similar to the Voucher Specimen Database. There are The resulting collections must be handled and identified or various plant host and fungus data categories, including, preserved quickly, and require detailed field notes or photo- “Genus/Specific Epithet,” and “Specific Epithet/Genus.” The graphs. The vagaries of weather from year to year have an search by “Specific Epithet/Genus” is recommended for try- impact on the amount and timing of fruiting. These uncer- ing to determine the currently accepted genus for a given tain parameters make it difficult to confirm if a mushroom taxon. This function is useful when the searcher is working species is “rare” or if vegetative thalli (mycelia) are in fact with a taxonomic group that has undergone recent revisions. common even though the species rarely fruits. Synonyms are linked to currently accepted names in this Other groups of macrofungi that are easier to collect, 110 Proc.