Shelbourne Nature Conservation Reserve fungus survey

by Alison Pouliot

Little is known about the fungi that inhabit the box and ironbark forests in north-central Victoria. Only a few records exist in the Fungimap or Living Atlas of Australia databases. Information on the fungi of these ecosystems is therefore very important in contributing to a bigger picture understanding of fungal distributions.

 Piptoporus australiensis. Photo © Kyle Murphy

Keen fungus surveyors from three Landcare groups 

and Bendigo TAFE. Photo © Jane Mitchell

Last week a group of ultra-keen fungus surveyors took to the Shelbourne Nature Conservation Reserver to see what fungi are emerging following the first autumn rains a couple of weeks back.  The group represented three different Landcare groups (Nuggetty, West Marong and Upper Spring Creek) as well as students from the Conservation and Land Management Course at Bendigo TAFE. The students have been looking at different forest management regimes that incorporate burning and ecological thinning as well as mapping exercises of fungal distributions.

Omphalotus nidiformis. Photo: © Jane Mitchell

Austropaxillus infundibuliformis. Photo: © Jane Mitchell

Although the rains hadn't penetrated much beyond the upper leaf litter layer, twelve species were recorded including Austropaxillus infundibuliformis group, Omphalotus nidiformis, Laccaria sp., Crepidotus sp., Stereum hirsutum, Trametes versicolor, Piptoporus australiensis, Pisolithus sp., Geastrum fornicatum and three lichens: Parmelia sp., Flavoparmelia sp. and Cladonia sp.

Despite the precarious future of Landcare it was encouraging to see Landcare members so keen to understand and document the fungi of these forests. The survey followed three fungus workshops held in Lockwood South, Baringhup and Woodstock on Loddon over the last two months.

Huge thanks go to the indefatigable Judy Crocker from the Mid Loddon Conservation Management Network and Upper Spring Creek Landcare Group for recognising the important ecological role of fungi in these forests and for organising the survey.

Special issue on fungi in Philosophy Activism Nature (PAN)

Fungi publication notice #3: Special issue on fungi in Philosophy Activism Nature (PAN) journal  

By Alison Pouliot                              

It's not often that fungi receive attention in academic journals in disciplines other than the sciences.  I was therefore delighted to be approached by environmental philosopher, Professor Freya Matthews from LaTrobe University who proposed a special issue on fungi for the Philosophy Activism Nature (PAN) journal.

Long-toed Salamander and Candellaria. Image: copyright  Steven David Johnson

I think back to the fungus workshop where I met Freya when she asked, "Are fungi sentient?"  Her question was a refreshing change from the more common queries, "What's this mushroom called?" and "Can I eat it?"  Admittedly, I'm rarely able to provide satisfying replies to any of these questions, but Freya's prompted possibilities to explore the many dimensions and disciplines through which we might consider fungi.

A second boon came with Dr John Ryan's offer to come on board as co-editor.  A post-doctoral research fellow at Edith Cowan University, John's background in environmental philosophy and eco-criticism along with his editing experience has made the process significantly more pleasurable and professional. 

Mycena cystidiosa with rhizomorphs. Image: Alison Pouliot

The PAN journal explores the "underpinnings of environmental thought and the discursive changes needed to shift society towards a new ecological culture of sustainability".  The journal differs from those where fungi papers are more likely to be published in that it provides a cross-disciplinary forum, exploring ideas at the interface of ecology and environmental philosophy and other disciplines through various formats including peer-reviewed scholarly papers, essays and poetry.

The special issue on fungi represents contributions from fields as diverse as mycology, lichenology, botany, poetry, philosophy, anthropology, law, fine arts, sociology, microbiology, ecology, entomology, photography, outdoor recreation, natural history and social psychology.  An impressive and dynamic mix!

Without wanting to reveal everything, themes in the special issue range from fungal diversity and conservation, to fungal spore dispersal mechanisms, interspecies ethnographies, human thrush entanglements, ecological jurisprudence, mycopoetry, to the curious habits of slime moulds and beyond.

As far as we are aware, this is the first special issue in an Australian academic journal to bring together these broad-ranging approaches to the fungal kingdom.  As readers of the Fungimap Newsletter would only be too well aware, fungi are largely overlooked in Australian biodiversity conservation.  Presenting a variety of lenses and perspectives through which to consider, or reconsider this kingdom, will hopefully inspire possibilities for new interest and audiences.  The greater the interest, the greater the chance that fungi might receive more focus in biodiversity conservation. 

Lamproderma species have iridescent peridia. Image: CC-BY-SA 3.0 Sarah Lloyd

The good news is that the PAN journal can be accessed free of charge via the Monash University repository directly via the PAN website.  PAN is distributed by Informit Press and is also available for subscription.

Personally, partaking in this project has made the already amazing fungus kingdom even more compelling.  We hope you enjoy this special issue on these very special organisms.

How Wikipedia can help fungal conservation

The purpose of this blog post is to encourage internet-savvy people to contribute to fungal conservation!

As you may know, fungi, invertebrates, microbes and other life forms are often poorly understood, despite the word ‘biodiversity’ becoming commonplace in the last two decades. This word’s origins come from a contraction of ‘biological diversity’ (Hawksworth 1996: p. 6). This planet’s ‘biota’ are considered ‘the diversity of all living things’. The bios part comes from the Greek, meaning ‘life’.

Become a fungal conservation champion!

Sadly, biodiversity has commonly been interpreted narrowly as including only animals and plants. In earlier times life was divided into Animals and Plants but in recent times many more kingdoms have been recognised, such as in the six kingdom system that includes: Animalia, Archaea, Bacteria, Fungi, Plantae and Protista. The three larger (macroscopic) kingdoms are animals, fungi and plants. I have ordered these in decreasing order of numbers of species (based on estimates for fungi, as significantly less taxonomic work has been carried out on this kingdom). This is the same order as if listed alphabetically. Remember that animals includes the invertebrates, which are the most species rich group.

It is difficult that so many documents consider life on our planet to be just animals and plants, often referred to in biodiversity documents as fauna and flora. This leads to the unfortunate situation where anything that is not flora or fauna is simply beyond the conceptual grasp of most people, even those who ought to know better.

It is time our usage of ‘biodiversity’ improved in accuracy and inclusivity. Where we can we need to update definitions. Wikipedia is one place this can be done. I also urge you to request or insist on the accurate use of biodiversity in reports, policy documents, council plans, management plans, articles etc. A good start would be recognising biodiversity as the diversity of all living things and even better would be to recognise all Kingdoms. This might take lobbying over some time but will be worth the effort.

If you are comfortable searching the web you will surely have come across Wikipedia. This collaborative encyclopedia can be a great tool if we, the collaborators, put our best efforts into it. If we get the momentum going on the internet then hopefully dictionaries like the Oxford English Dictionary, will change their current limited definition of biodiversity to one that includes all life.

[By the way: unlike some members of partilment I would never use Wikipedia as a reference for a scientific or professional work, but I am happy to use it as a source for general and local knowledge.]

David Minter is currently the President of the
 International Society for Fungal Conservation 
and during the recent third congress of the society 
ran a workshop on how to become fungal conservation 
champions, such as by editing wikipedia entries 
(Image Lyn Allison).

If you want to know more details about why usage matters, for fungal conservation in particular, check out ISFC website.

What Wikipedia pages can you edit? If you register, you should be able to be edit most pages. You may want to protect your privacy by signing up under a ‘pen name’ or ‘avatar’.

Good places to start updating Wikipedia include country pages (look under environment or biodiversity subsections), conservation pages, your favourite ‘patch’ such as local conservation areas or national parks, regional and local government areas, etc. The list is huge, which is why I suggest we all become part time editors. Do not forget that Wikipedia is available in many languages, so you can also update or even create pages in other languages if you are proficient!

In cases where less accurate authors simply write “fauna and flora” to mean the species found in a document and you don't want to use biota or ‘animals, fungi and plants’ you could simply use ‘organism’ (this is outlined here )

Remember that 72% of Australasian macrofungi are endemic (Mueller & Schmit 2007; Mueller et al.,  2007), so they are ours to conserve. Raising awareness of the needs of fungi for conservation are important. I hope we can increase the understanding of our region’s wonderful biodiversity. If you want to know more about Australian Biodiversity you should read Chapman (2009); his estimates suggest that Australian biodiversity comprises: 

·         Fungi 9%

·         Plants 5%

·         ‘Microbes’ 28% (Archaea, Bacteria and Protista).

·         Animals 58%:

o   Vertebrates (birds, fish, mammals, reptiles etc) less than 2%

o   Invertebrates 56%

Species scape – the larger the organism the more species! (Yves Basset & Isabelle Bachy). 
 http://www.natuurwetenschappen.be/cb/ants/projects/ibisca-why-arthropods.htm

So sadly to date most of our efforts in understand biodiversity have likely focused on only  around 7% of Australia’s species.

When editing, please don't forget to give a short reason as to why the text has been changed. Wikipedia protects itself from malicious robots by checking this. It is also worth keeping track of your edited text as other editors may want to revert to the status quo. Keeping edits in format free programs like notepad are best as wiki pages are in html. Remember that information that is not supported by citation is easily modified or removed. (Below are some references that you may want to cite for Australian and Australasian fungi.)

If you would like inspiration you should check out the site for Wombat State Forest particularly section 4 ‘Fauna, fungi and flora’.

If you can upload pictures into Wikipedia it takes a few days but well worth it: ‘sexy fungi’ pictures are always appealing!

If you end up wanting to change more than a word or two you should read up on how to cite in Wikipedia 

Happy editing and correcting on behalf of accuracy and fungal conservation!

Sapphire McMullan-Fisher, Chair of Fungimap Conservation and Biodiversity Subcommittee and Australasian representative on the Council of the International Society for Fungal Conservation.

References

Chapman, AD. (2009) Numbers of living species in Australia and the world. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra. <http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/abrs/publications/other/species-numbers/2009/pubs/nlsaw-2nd-complete.pdf>

Hawksworth, DL. (1996). Biodiversity: measurement and estimation. Springer..

Minter D. (2011) Botanists and zoologists fungal conservation needs you. http://www.fungal-conservation.org/blogs/message-to-botanists-and-zoologists.pdf.

Mueller GM, Schmit JP. (2007). Fungal biodiversity: what do we know? What can we predict? Biodiversity and Conservation 16: 1–5.

Mueller, GM, Schmit, JP , Leacock, PR, Buyck, B, Cifuentes, J, Desjardin, DE, Halling, RE, Hjortstam, K, Iturriaga, T, Larsson, K-H, Lodge, DJ, May, TW, Minter, D, Rajchenberg, M, Redhead, SA, Ryvarden, L, Trappe, JM, Watling, R, Wu, Q. (2007) Global diversity and distribution of macrofungi. Biodiversity and Conservation, 16, 37-48.

Calling All Fungi Photographers!

The Australian Geographic  2014 ANZANG Nature Photographer of the Year competition is now open, with further details and submissions being accepted here: http://www.anzang.samuseum.sa.gov.au/ 

Although last year Raoul Slater of Queensland won the Botanical category for his photograph of inkcaps titled "Fungi in Mist" (see below or http://www.anzang.samuseum.sa.gov.au/gallery ),  fungi have rarely featured in this competition in the past. However, we know that quite a few Fungimappers are also very talented photographers so we encourage you to submit your best and be recognised for your skills at showing how beautiful, fascinating and strange Kingdom Fungi can appear!

Amateur and professional photographers of all ranges can compete and there are cash prizes for winners and runners-up.

If you need any advice on the identification of a fungus featured in your photographs, email us at info@fungimap.org.au and our experienced field naturalists and mycological experts will try to assist.

Entries close on Friday 7 March 2014 at 5pm ACDT.

Best of luck!

Raoul Slater's winning photograph of inkcaps in 2013,
from http://www.anzang.samuseum.sa.gov.au/gallery

Ford Kristo of New South Wales won Runner-Up in the Botanical category in 2012 for this photograph titled "Mushroom singing in the rain".

Fungi in farm and woodland restoration

Fungi workshops #1: Fungi in farm and woodland restoration 

by Alison Pouliot

Old trees are vital keystones of
woodlands and farmlands

Since its inception in Victoria in 1985, Landcare participants have planted millions of native plants as part of the restoration of farmlands, woodlands, forests and grasslands. During this time Landcare has grown into a nation-wide initiative and indeed spread further to another 20 countries.

While Landcare efforts have been remarkably successful in restoring soils, vegetation and waterways, could these efforts be even more effective if fungi were included as part of landscape restoration efforts?

The Mid-Loddon Landcare Network and Conservation Management Network strive to achieve the integrated management of native woodlands with productive farmland in addressing environmental issues. The groups also work to protect threatened local species, the Bush Stone-curlew (Burhinus grallarius) being one such example of a species on the brink of local extinction that is being actively assisted. The event of the first bird recorded on camera in one of the protected areas last week was a welcome sign of conservation success.

However, these groups are also inspiring examples of dedicated local enthusiasts who recognise the importance of fungi in maintaining diverse and resilient ecosystems. In recent years the groups have run various sessions to inform participants of the role of fungi in soils. The groups' dynamic and tireless coordinator, Judy Crocker, has a profound appreciation of the significance of fungi in agroecosytems and encourages farmers to restore the fungal and microbial ecologies of their soils, to improve both farm production and ecosystem integrity. Judy recognises the importance of fungi in linking ecosystems, particularly the importance of leaf litter for both fungi and curlews, as well as the role of fungi in stabilising soils following fire.

Xerula australis group

Cortinarius sublargus following fire

Also of great concern to the group is the decline of old trees in rural Victoria. This decline is thought to be due to a combination of factors including drought stress and land management practices that have altered salinity, nutrient composition, soil structure, water infiltration etc. However, are there ways that fungi could be more actively incorporated into efforts to maintain and protect old trees?

The Mid Loddon Landcare Network and CMN will be running several sessions this autumn to explore the role of fungi in central Victorian environments.  Further information about the MLCMN's activities can be found here.

The fungi of Victoria's northern-central environments have been little documented. Any records of Fungimap target species from these regions would make a great contribution to the knowledge and conservation of Australia's fungi and ecosystems.

Fungi are vital to the resilience of Victoria's woodlands

Text and images by Alison Pouliot, All Rights Reserved.

Spores in the Wind

 Thanks to Fungimapper Ian Bell for alerting us to some interesting research that has recently come out of UCLA.

In November, at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society's Division of Fluid Dynamics in Pittsburgh, researchers Marcus Roper and colleague Emilie Dressaire presented their findings on how mushroom-producing fungi  actively and intentionally spread their spores by creating small pockets of air flow that can carry their spores away from the mushroom up to an extra 10 centimeters horizontally and vertically.

The mushroom accomplishes this by failing to protect its moisture content, allowing it to evaporate off. This evaporation causes a small, local cooling effect on the air which enables it to expand outwards, carrying the spores with it.

To read more about this interesting research:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=mushrooms-create-their-own-breeze-13-11-25&WT.mc_id=SA_CAT_EVO_20131202

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=mushrooms-make-wind-to-spread-spores&WT.mc_id=SA_CAT_EVO_20131202

And cup fungi setting off a chain reaction to produce a jet:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19503-fungi-generate-their-own-mini-wind-to-go-the-distance.html#.UrgaXOLcB3Q

Fungal air jets (Image: M. Roper/University of California, Berkley)