1. AGARIC DIVERSITY IN THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK PART OF THE GSMNP ALL TAXA BIODIVERSITY INVENTORY (ATBI)

2. PROJECT GOALS Three years of collections by experts in various groups of agaric fungi Databasing of current and past collections Bar coding of species using ribosomal ITS region Species pages available on web

3. TENN Tennessee herbarium web site lists 1500 species from the GSMNP Goal – to link to photos and records in next three years

4. SPONSORS Karen Hughes Ron Petersen Ed Lickey Gymnopus – 450 sequences Collybia Omphalotus Artomyces (Clavicorona) Lentinellus Lentinula Xerula Ramaria PARTICIPANTS Aime, Cathy – Rusts and Crepidotus Ammirati, Joe - Cortinarius Baroni, Tim – Entoloma Buyck, Bart – Russula / Lactarius Caranza, Julietta - Trametes Cifuentes, Joaquin - General Halling, Roy – Gymnopus and others Horak, Egon - General Kerrigan, Rick - Agaricus Lodge, Jean - Hygrophoraceae Mata, Juan Luis - Gymnopus Matheny, Brandon - Inocybe McCleneghan, Coleman - Pholiota Methven, Andrew - Lactarius Ovrebo, Clark - Tricholoma Tulloss, Rod -Amanita Verbaken, Anameka – Russula /Lactarius COVERAGE Andrew Miller - Pyrenomycetes

6. TWO PROBLEMS FOR BARCODING USING THE ITS REGION PROBLEM 1 INABILITY TO DISTINGUISH SOME APPARENT MORPHOSPECIES (GYMNOPUS SECT LEVIPEDES) But – does distinguish a number of Gymnopus collections previously grouped as the same morphospecies (cryptic species)

7. TWO PROBLEMS FOR BARCODING USING THE ITS REGION PROBLEM 2 THE ITS REGION IN COLLECTIONS FROM THE GSMNP HAS RELATIVELY HIGH LEVELS OF HETEROZYGOSITY FOR INDELS. Requires cloning with its attendant problems

8. Cortinarius sp. = 31.3% Lactarius sp. = 25.0% Hygrophorus = 57.7% Saprobes = 28.5%

9. PROPORTION OF COLLECTIONS FROM THE GSMNP THAT WERE ALREADY REPRESENTED IN GENBANK [98% CONGRUENCE WAS ARBITRARILY CONSIDERED TO BE CONSPECIFIC] 159/533 MATCHED SPECIES IN GENBANK 23/533 MATCHED UNNAMED ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLES 351/533 HAD NO MATCH IN GENBANK FOR AGARICS, SEQUENCE COVERAGE IS STILL SIGNIFICANTLY INCOMPLETE

10. GSMNP BAR CODING PROJECT? Home of an ATBI Center of Biodiversity Highly varied terrain /ecosystems Nice collecting spot Good field station On the ground help Need I say more?