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Fungi are among the most diverse and ecologically important kingdoms in life. However, the distributional ranges of fungi remain largely unknown as do the ecological mechanisms that shape their distributions 1,2 . To provide an integrated view of the spatial and seasonal dynamics of fungi, we implemented a globally distributed standardized aerial sampling of fungal spores 3 . The vast majority of operational taxonomic units were detected within only one climatic zone, and the spatiotemporal patterns of species richness and community composition were mostly explained by annual mean air temperature. Tropical regions hosted the highest fungal diversity except for lichenized, ericoid mycorrhizal and ectomycorrhizal fungi, which reached their peak diversity in temperate regions. The sensitivity in climatic responses was associated with phylogenetic relatedness, suggesting that large-scale distributions of some fungal groups are partially constrained by their ancestral niche. There was a strong phylogenetic signal in seasonal sensitivity, suggesting that some groups of fungi have retained their ancestral trait of sporulating for only a short period. Overall, our results show that the hyperdiverse kingdom of fungi follows globally highly predictable spatial and temporal dynamics, with seasonality in both species richness and community composition increasing with latitude. Our study reports patterns resembling those described for other major groups of organisms, thus making a major contribution to the long-standing debate on whether organisms with a microbial lifestyle follow the global biodiversity paradigms known for macroorganisms 4,5 ., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Freshwater ecosystems and their bordering wetlands and riparian zones are vital for human society and biological diversity. Yet, they are among the most degraded ecosystems, where sharp declines in biodiversity are driven by human activities, such as hydropower development, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. Because freshwater ecosystems are characterized by strongly reciprocal linkages with surrounding landscapes, human activities that encroach on or degrade riparian zones ultimately lead to declines in freshwater-riparian ecosystem functioning. We synthesized results of a symposium on freshwater, riparian, and wetland processes and interactions and analyzed some of the major problems associated with improving freshwater and riparian research and management. Three distinct barriers are the lack of involvement of local people in conservation research and management, absence of adequate measurement of biodiversity in freshwater and riparian ecosystems, and separate legislation and policy on riparian and freshwater management. Based on our findings, we argue that freshwater and riparian research and conservation efforts should be integrated more explicitly. Best practices for overcoming the 3 major barriers to improved conservation include more and sustainable use of traditional and other forms of local ecological knowledge, choosing appropriate metrics for ecological research and monitoring of restoration efforts, and mirroring the close links between riparian and freshwater ecosystems in legislation and policy. Integrating these 3 angles in conservation science and practice will provide substantial benefits in addressing the freshwater biodiversity crisis., (© 2024 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.)

Finding standard cost-effective methods for monitoring biodiversity is challenging due to trade-offs between survey costs (including expertise), specificity, and range of applicability. These trade-offs cause a lack of comparability among datasets collected by ecologists and conservationists, which is most regrettable in taxonomically demanding work on megadiverse inconspicuous taxon groups. We have developed a site-scale survey method for diverse sessile land organisms, which can be analyzed over multiple scales and linked with ecological insights and management. The core idea is that field experts can effectively allocate observation effort when the time, area, and priority sequence of tasks are fixed. We present the protocol, explain its specifications (taxon group; expert qualification; plot size; effort) and applications based on >800 original surveys of four taxon groups; and we analyze its effectiveness using data on polypores in hemiboreal and tropical forests. We demonstrate consistent effort-species richness curves and among-survey variation in contrasting ecosystems, and high effectiveness compared with casual observations both at local and regional scales. Bias related to observer experience appeared negligible compared with typical assemblage variation. Being flexible in terms of sampling design, the method has enabled us to compile data from various projects to assess conservation status and habitat requirements of most species (specifically rarities and including discovery of new species); also, when linked with site descriptions, to complete environmental assessments and select indicator species for management. We conclude that simple rules can significantly improve expert-based biodiversity surveys. Ideally, define (i) a common plot size that addresses multiple taxon groups and management goals; (ii) taxon groups based on field expertise and feasible number of species; (iii) sufficient and practical search time; (iv) a procedure for recording within-plot heterogeneity. Such a framework, combined with freedom to allocate effort on-site, helps utilizing full expertise of observers without losing technical rigor., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Antrodia is a polyphyletic genus, comprising brown-rot polypores with annual or short-lived perennial resupinate, dimitic basidiocarps. Here we focus on species that are closely related to Antrodia crassa, and investigate their phylogeny and species delimitation using geographic, ecological, morphological and molecular data (ITS and LSU rDNA, tef1). Phylogenetic analyses distinguished four clades within the monophyletic group of eleven conifer-inhabiting species (five described herein): (1)A. crassa s. str. (boreal Eurasia), Antrodia cincta sp. nova (North America) and Antrodia cretacea sp. nova (holarctic), all three being characterized by inamyloid skeletal hyphae that dissolve quickly in KOH solution; (2) Antrodia ignobilis sp. nova, Antrodia sitchensis and Antrodia sordida from North America, and Antrodia piceata sp. nova (previously considered conspecific with A. sitchensis) from Eurasia, possessing amyloid skeletal hyphae; (3) Antrodia ladiana sp. nova from the southern part of the USA, Antrodia pinea from East Asia, and Antrodia ferox - so far known from subtropical North America, but here reported also from Eurasia. These three species have inamyloid hyphae and narrow basidiospores; (4) the North American Antrodia pini-cubensis, sharing similar morphological characters with A. pinea, forming a separate clade. The habitat data indicate that several species are threatened by intensive forestry., (Copyright © 2015 The British Mycological Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Novel methods for sampling and characterizing biodiversity hold great promise for re-evaluating patterns of life across the planet. The sampling of airborne spores with a cyclone sampler, and the sequencing of their DNA, have been suggested as an efficient and well-calibrated tool for surveying fungal diversity across various environments. Here we present data originating from the Global Spore Sampling Project, comprising 2,768 samples collected during two years at 47 outdoor locations across the world. Each sample represents fungal DNA extracted from 24 m3 of air. We applied a conservative bioinformatics pipeline that filtered out sequences that did not show strong evidence of representing a fungal species. The pipeline yielded 27,954 species-level operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Each OTU is accompanied by a probabilistic taxonomic classification, validated through comparison with expert evaluations. To examine the potential of the data for ecological analyses, we partitioned the variation in species distributions into spatial and seasonal components, showing a strong effect of the annual mean temperature on community composition.

Fungal diversity drives key processes in terrestrial ecosystems, but remains challenging to measure in the field and to monitor over time. In particular, we lack methods capable of describing both the regional biotas and fungal related conservation values, such as habitats for rare and threatened fungi. Environmental DNA (eDNA) could serve this purpose, once its validity to capture fungal assemblage properties is established. Using three approaches (full‐season eDNA sampling from air, snapshot visual surveys, and eDNA sampling from dead wood), we present the first comparative assessment of fungal diversity at forest stand scale. The focus was on two well‐known fungal groups (lichens and wood inhabiting basidiomycetes) in old hemiboreal forests. Aerial eDNA revealed regional‐scale cryptic diversity not detected in visual surveys, particularly among lichens and including species of conservation concern. However, at the local population scale, both aerial eDNA and eDNA sampled from dead wood often missed visually detected species. In particular, eDNA sampled from dead wood performed only as a supplementary source of species data. The methods differed in detecting the spatial covariance of wood fungal and lichen diversity, with the combined (most complete) dataset indicating the strongest congruence. Synthesis and applications. Neither eDNA approaches nor visual surveys were able to detect full diversity of local fungi and all species of specific conservation value. However, there is clear merit in combined use of these methods, particularly in pairing aerial eDNA with visual observation‐based surveys on selected taxon groups. This approach can be especially valuable in fungal groups that have challenging taxonomy, inhabit partly inaccessible microhabitats, or have overall high diversity (such as lichens). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In forests, the amount and diversity of structural features with high value for biodiversity, such as large trees and dead wood, are affected by productivity, stand age, and forest management. For efficient conservation of forest biodiversity, it is essential to understand the combined effects of these drivers. We used data from the Swedish National Forest Inventory to study the combined effects of productivity, stand age, and management for wood production on structures with high value for biodiversity: tree species richness, large living trees, dead wood volume, and specific dead wood types. Forest management changed the relationship between productivity and amount or diversity of some of the structures. Most structures increased with productivity and stand age, but decreased due to management. The negative effect of management was greatest for structures occurring mainly in high-productivity forests, such as deciduous dead wood. Thus, biodiversity conservation should target high-productivity forests to preserve these structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyporous fungi, a morphologically delineated group of Agaricomycetes (Basidiomycota), are considered well studied in Europe and used as model group in ecological studies and for conservation. Such broad interest, including widespread sampling and DNA based taxonomic revisions, is rapidly transforming our basic understanding of polypore diversity and natural history. We integrated over 40,000 historical and modern records of polypores in Estonia (hemiboreal Europe), revealing 227 species, and including Polyporus submelanopus and P. ulleungus as novelties for Europe. Taxonomic and conservation problems were distinguished for 13 unresolved subgroups. The estimated species pool exceeds 260 species in Estonia, including at least 20 likely undescribed species (here documented as distinct DNA lineages related to accepted species in, e.g., Ceriporia, Coltricia, Physisporinus, Sidera and Sistotrema). Four broad ecological patterns are described: (1) polypore assemblage organization in natural forests follows major soil and tree-composition gradients; (2) landscape-scale polypore diversity homogenizes due to draining of peatland forests and reduction of nemoral broad-leaved trees (wooded meadows and parks buffer the latter); (3) species having parasitic or brown-rot life-strategies are more substratespecific; and (4) assemblage differences among woody substrates reveal habitat management priorities. Our update reveals extensive overlap of polypore biota throughout North Europe. We estimate that in Estonia, the biota experienced ca. 3-5% species turnover during the twentieth century, but exotic species remain rare and have not attained key functions in natural ecosystems. We encourage new regional syntheses on long studied fungal groups to obtain landscape-scale understanding of species pools, and for elaborating fungal indicators for biodiversity assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental managers often use indicator taxa to monitor full biodiversity and hidden environmental factors. For identifying practical indicators from assemblage data collected in the field, it is crucial to remove irrelevant variation, which unfortunately is not a common practice. We demonstrate, based on field data from Estonian forests, (i) how an attractive indicator group of macrofungi, perennial polypores, loses its apparent indicator value when variation in study effort and conspicuous environmental factors have been reduced; (ii) that simply including survey effort variation is sufficient to create significant covariation between species richness of taxon groups, which has often been taken as a justification for indicator assignment. These results imply that standardizing study effort should become a requirement for any field study that reports indicator taxa based on covariance patterns. We encourage researchers to be explicit and critical about the practical value of indicator taxa when compared with direct measurement of habitat conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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A fundamental problem of sustainability is how to reduce the double complexity of ecological and social systems into simple operational terms. We highlight that the conservation concept of focal species (selected species sensitive to a set of anthropogenic threats to their habitat) links multiple issues of ecological sustainability, and their habitat models can provide a practical tool for solving these issues. A review of the literature shows that most spatial modeling of focal species focuses on vertebrates, lacks the aspect of aquatic and soil habitats, and has been slow in the uptake by actual management planning. We elaborate on a deductive modeling approach that first generalizes the main influential dimensions of habitat change (threats), which are then parameterized as habitat quality estimates for focal species. If built on theoretical understanding and properly scaled, the maps produced with such models can cost-effectively describe the dynamics of ecological qualities across forest landscapes, help set conservation priorities, and reflect on management plans and practices. The models also serve as ecological hypotheses on biodiversity and landscape function. We illustrate this approach based on recent additions to the forest reserve network in Estonia, which addressed the insufficient protection of productive forest types. For this purpose, mostly former production forests that may require restoration were set aside. We distinguished seven major habitat dimensions and their representative taxa in these forests and depicted each dimension as a practical stand-scale decision tree of habitat quality. The model outcomes implied that popular stand-structural targets of active forest restoration would recover passively in reasonable time in these areas, while a critically degraded condition (loss of old trees of characteristic species) required management beyond reserve borders. Another hidden issue revealed was that only a few stands of consistently low habitat quality concentrated in the landscape to allow cost-efficient restoration planning. We conclude that useful habitat models for sustainable forest management have to balance single-species realism with stakeholder expectations of meaningful targets and scales. Addressing such social aspects through the focal species concept could accelerate the adoption of biodiversity distribution modeling in forestry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]