J. Ginns, S.A. Redhead and T. Goward. 1998. Mushrooms, Lichens and other Fungi in Smith, I.M., and G.G.E. Scudder, eds. Assessment of species diversity in the Montane Cordillera Ecozone. Burlington: Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network, 1998.

MUSHROOMS, LICHENS AND OTHER FUNGI

(Kingdom Fungi, Phylum Mycota)

J. Ginns
Pacific Agriculture Research Centre
4200 Hwy. 97
Summerland, B.C.
VOH 1Z0
and
S.A. Redhead
Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre (ECORC)
Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0C6
and
T. Goward
Herbarium, Department of Botany
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, B.C.
V6G 2B1
and
Enlichened Consulting Ltd.
Edgewood Blue, Box 131
Clearwater, B.C.
V0E 1N0

ABSTRACT

The Montane Cordillera Ecozone of British Columbia and adjacent Rocky Mountains of Alberta supports a flora of several thousand species of fungi, such as mushrooms, lichens, polypores, puffballs, jelly-fungi, rusts, cup-fungi, mildews and molds. However, prior research on the fungi in this Ecozone has been piecemeal and often meagre, except for a few studies on plant parasitic fungi, soil fungi, lichens and wood-decay fungi. Research has been primarily directed towards general surveys to determine which species are present rather than ecological. The readily accessible studies document only 1481 fungal species in this Ecozone, half of which are lichens. Additional records exist but they must be carefully extracted from (1) the incidental citations primarily in research journals and (2) the institutions that house collections of fungi. These data should be used to develop baseline information on occurrence, frequency, habitats, phenology, current species numbers and as a tool for biodiversity analysis of the fungi in this Ecozone. These projects must involve scientists expert in the identification and classification of fungi, as useful data can only result from correct naming of the species. The mycoflora (the total number of fungal species in the Ecozone) is reviewed with emphasis on the conspicuous fungi, their diversity, the interaction of fungi with plants and animals, the state of our knowledge of the major groups, and the potential for flagging endangered species.

INTRODUCTION

The Kingdom Fungi is an extremely diverse group of organisms (Barr 1992). The fungi familiar to most people are the mushrooms, followed by molds on food, and for gardeners, some plant diseases. In appearance the species of fungi vary widely from the yeasts, which are microscopic, single-celled fungi, to the Giant Puffball, which typically produces a soccer ball-sized fruiting body. The common groups of large or macrofungi, i.e., those easily seen with the naked eye, are mushrooms, boletes, puffballs, stinkhorns, cup-fungi, jelly-fungi, bracket-fungi, and coral-fungi. In North America the field guides including fungi from western North America, for example, Bandoni and Szczawinski (1976), Evenson (1997), Lincoff (1981), McKenny et al. (1987), McKnight and McKnight (1987), Schalkwijk-Barendsen (1991) and Smith (1975), use the term mushroom in the broadest sense to include all the above groups. Generally the lichens are not included in these guides although they are fungi and many are qualify as macrofungi; for popular treatments of these organisms see Goward (1996a). One distinctive feature of lichens is their intimate mutualistic association with algae or, in a few cases, with cyanobacteria. Thus they behave quite differently from the mushrooms and their allies, most of whom are free living saprophytes, plant parasites or are symbiotic with plant roots forming mycorrhizae. A synopsis of lichen collecting in British Columbia (B.C.) was given by Goward et al. (1998). Lichens are more often included in field guides along with mosses, ferns and similar plants, see, for example, MacKinnon et al. 1992, and Vitt et al. 1988.

Mushroom examples:

Boletes examples:

Cup-fungi examples:

Bracket-fungi examples:

In this report emphasis is on the conspicuous, large or macrofungi. Although there are probably more species of microfungi in the Ecozone than macrofungi, the data on the microfungi are sparse and widely scattered.

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