Fungal Biodiversity and
Conservation
Diversity of fungi in IrelandSources
• 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.
or
tin
ar
iu
s
En
to
lo
m
a
R
us
su
la
M
yc
en
a
La
ct
ar
iu
H
s
yg
ro
cy
C
be
op
rin
op
si
s
C
Species
ROI under-recorded in some genera
200
150
100
50
0
ROI
E
S
W
NI
Reasons for differences
Forest cover
6000
5000
Regression the number of fungal species per region versus
the area of deciduous forest cover in hectares in the forest
regions in England.
3000
2000
1000
Functional group
0
Mycorrhizal
Parasitic
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
40000
45000
50
Deciduous forest area (ha)
In UK, woodland fungi most
frequently recorded;
In ROI grassland fungi (waxcaps),
most frequently recorded
Species
Species
40
30
20
10
0
ROI
E
S
W
1200
1100
1000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
ROI
NI
Wood decomposers
Species
500
250
0
ROI
E
S
W
E
S
W
NI
Litter decomposers
750
Species
Species
4000
NI
1100
1000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
ROI
E
S
W
NI
• Ireland has no Red Data List for fungi
• Fungi not considered in Checklist of Protected and Rare Species in
Ireland (NPWS, 2009)
Country
Checklist
Professional
mycologists
Amateur
mycologists
Red list
Conservation
consideration
Ireland
1
3
-
3
3
UK
1
3
2
2
2
France
2
2
1
2
3
Switzerland
1
3
1
1
2
Poland
1
1
3
2
2
Finland
2
1
1
1
2
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 33rd 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.