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) 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 Wales-1936 Scotland 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),

ROI under-recorded in some genera

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

Ireland has no Red Data List for fungi Fungi not considered in Checklist of Protected and Rare Species in Ireland (NPWS, 2009) 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 CountryChecklistProfessional mycologists Amateur mycologists Red listConservation consideration Ireland13-33 UK13222 France22123 Switzerland13112 Poland11322 Finland21112

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.