the globe’s living landscape—regulate the atmosphere, water, and soils. Tey supply humanity its food, most medicines, and many other essential products, and they fill our lives with beauty. But they are falling apart as, one by one, their constituent species are lost. To save what we can and provide our children and grandchildren with a sustainable future, studies must be conducted not only in nature but also, to an increasing extent, on the billions of specimens preserved in the world’s natural history collections. For many species barely hanging on in their endangered habitats, these samples will one day be all that we have.” A recent United Nations Summit on


Biodiversity concluded that perhaps 1 million of the estimated 8.5 million species of plants, animals, and other organisms are in imminent danger of extinction. Tis loss of biodiversity seems to be accelerating. Probably as many as half of the populations of organisms that existed half a century ago are already gone. Over the past quarter century, about a quarter of all tropical forests have been lost. And this is only speculation, the true number could be worse as we have identified no more than a tenth of the estimated tens of thousands of species in those habitats. It’s likely that most species that were lost may forever remain unknown. Te causes, however, are mostly


known; some have been discussed above. Habitat loss, overdevelopment, and climate change stand out. Unless we control the underlying causes, we are in danger of losing 80% or more of the world’s species—the proportion lost 66 million years ago when the dinosaurs became extinct and many of the plants and animals known today began their ascent. Because of this, scientists unanimously agree that we have entered the world’s sixth major extinction event. Although we are keenly aware of


biodiversity loss, it’s uncertain exactly what’s being lost since we don’t have a complete inventory of the planet’s biodiversity. And the clock is ticking. Te good news is that we are aware of our ignorance and beginning to take swift steps to survey the world’s biodiversity. Te rise of “citizen scientists” has been a major boon to this cause. Social media has been a tremendous tool to connect collectors,


40 FUNGI Volume 14:4 Fall 2021


observers, and scientists and as place to log observations and notes about species. It’s a very exciting for me—both as a participant and as an observer. To date, very few fungi have been


formally listed as threatened or endangered anywhere. Te USA doesn’t have any sort of “Red List” for endangered fungi, although some countries do. Possibly the most famous Red List member from the Fifth Kingdom is the mushroom Pleurotus nebrodensis, an oyster mushroom considered critically endangered and thought to be endemic from a small region (the Nebrodo forests) of northern Sicily. Tis mushroom has a life cycle that involves the plant Cachrys ferulacea, a tall plant of the family Apiaceae and resembling fennel. In fact the mushroom resembles the King Oyster, P. eryngii, which has its own umbelliferous host. Why is this mushroom so rare? Well, it’s habitat was never huge as Sicily is an island, but in recent times that habitat has gotten ever more fragmented by agriculture, development, etc.—the same story as many places on the planet. But another reason for its demise is that the mushroom is delicious and highly prized. No one can resist picking, despite its protected status. Italian scientists estimate there maybe fewer than 250 fruitbodies nowadays make it to maturity and release spores! But there is reason to be hopeful. Recently, Italian mycologist Gianrico Vasquez, has located populations of this fungus on the mainland of Italy. And it seems that the mushroom species may be more widespread and common than previously thought, simply because it doesn’t fruit all that often. Additionally, clever mushroom cultivators have figured out how to produce this delicious mushroom in culture; you can even find cultivated “nebrodini bianco” (one of its names) in North American markets. (I’ve eaten this cultivated mushroom in Italy and in the USA, and it’s one of the very best!) Fungi are enigmatic … it’s tough to


know when they are truly uncommon, or simply infrequently fruit and uncommonly seen as a result. As an example, Creolophus (=Hericium) cirrhatus, Hericium erinaceus, and H. coralloides are all considered endangered in Europe. In the case of Creolophus, this mushroom is rarely seen. But


studies of wood rot fungi, whereby samples of wood were taken from many sources and examined using molecular techniques, found that this mushroom was present pretty much everywhere … but doesn’t much create fruitbodies. Tus we still have a long ways to go towards inventorying our biodiversity and there is much that remains hidden— sometimes in plain sight.


Turning the Tide on Habitat and


Biodiversity Loss Te path forward is clear. We must


curtail overdevelopment and habitat loss. We have to continue with, indeed accelerate the ongoing survey of the planet’s biodiversity. For species on the decline we have to do our best to determine what’s going on and turn that around. I return to thoughts by Peter Brannen, an authority on mass extinctions: “By one estimate, at the rate at which we are currently driving species extinct, we could match the biological devastation of those towering mass extinctions of the ancient past within 300 to 12,000 years. Tis might sound like a long time frame, but from a geologic perspective, it is downright subliminal. More worryingly, there may yet exist unseen ecological cliff edges along the way, beyond which the biosphere does not simply suffer the onslaught of attrition but collapses suddenly in cascading failures. In other words, there may be tipping points— points of no return.” Te solutions are not all clear but must involve preserving habitat and burning less fossil fuels. Brennan notes: “We must set aside swaths of the planet—in the form of marine protected areas, natural reserves, and corridors for migration—to allow the living world to recover from the uppercut we have already delivered it. Ten, we must simply stop digging up old life from deep in Earth’s crust and lighting it on fire at the surface.” In many instances the solutions may


be complex, just as the reasons for an organism’s decline may be complex. But progress is being made. Tere are success stories to report. Te marine seagrass beds once


extended pretty much unbroken along the entire distance of the Atlantic Coast


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