Fungal Biodiversity and Conservation

Diversity of fungi in Ireland • • • • • • • Sources

Catalogue of Irish Fungi

(Muskett and Malone 1978; 1980) British Mycological Society’s

Checklist of Basidiomycetes for Britain and Ireland

(Legon andHenrici 2005); Fungal Records Database of Britain and Ireland (FRDBI) (British Mycological Society 2009) http://www.fieldmycology.net/ Database of the Northern Ireland Fungus Group (NIFG 2009); Fungal records database in the National Biodiversity Data Centre (National Biodiversity Data Centre 2008); Published records from journals such as

Irish Naturalists’ Journal

,

Field Mycology

and

Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy

.

Records held in Herbarium of National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin.

Basidiomycete diversity (from the “

Checklist

”) ROI-1204 NI - 1303 Wales-1936 Scotland -2507 England-3482 Records in ROI are highest around Dublin and in areas visited by British Mycology Society or NIFG field meetings (Dublin, Killarney, Burren, Roscrea) O’Hanlon, R. and Harrington, T.J. (2011). Diversity and distribution of mushroom-forming fungi (Agaricomycetes) in Ireland

. Biology and

Environment 111B (2), 117-133.

ROI under-recorded in some genera

200 150 100 50 0 C or tin ar iu s E nt ol oma R us su la My ce na La ct ar iu H s yg ro cy C be op ri no ps is

ROI E S W NI

Reasons for differences Forest cover

6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 Deciduous forest area (ha) 35000 40000 45000

In UK, woodland fungi most frequently recorded; In ROI grassland fungi (waxcaps), most frequently recorded Regression the number of fungal species per region versus the area of deciduous forest cover in hectares in the forest regions in England.

Parasitic 50 40 30 20 10 0 ROI E S W Wood decomposers NI 750 500 250 0 ROI E S W Functional group NI 1200 1100 1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 ROI E S W Litter decomposers 1100 1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 ROI E Mycorrhizal S W NI NI

• Ireland has no Red Data List for fungi • Fungi not considered in

Checklist of Protected and Rare Species in Ireland

(NPWS, 2009)

Country

Ireland UK France Switzerland Poland Finland

Checklist

1 1 2 1 1 2 3 1 1

Professional mycologists

3 3 2 1 3 1

Amateur mycologists

2 1

Red list

3 2 2 1 2 1 2 2 2

Conservation consideration

3 2 3

Table 6

Data from Senn-Irlet

et al.

(2007) showing the fungal conservation ratings of Ireland and 5 other European countries. 1=best rating, 2= middle rating and 3= worst possible rating.

Ireland is 33 rd out of 44

Unique Irish Fungal habitats • Old Atlantic Oakwood • Machair and sand dunes • Raised and blanket bog • Burren

Do we have rare fungi and are they • in danger?

• Main danger is habitat loss.

Lyophyllum favrei

–an example

A very rare, mycorrhizal (?)woodland fungus 1 known locality in Ireland in a Coillte Forest Park A EU Life-sponsored scheme to remove exotics i.e. beech, would have rendered this extinct.