Conservation

There are immediate barriers to the full recognition of fungi within focused conservation management actions and overall priority-setting. These include the insufficient baseline data on distribution and the lack of formal conservation assessment (i.e. red-listing). Despite various efforts over the years, very few non-lichenized species have formally endorsed assessments under national legislation, and international assessment under IUCN guidelines has also been carried out for only a handful of species. A large proportion of the British species of non-lichenized fungi have insufficient distributional information for a clear assessment of threat, due to insufficient recording activity with very large numbers of species and a shortage of expert surveyors/identifiers. These would currently be considered as Data Deficient under the formal guidelines.

Most of the species pages in this website have some indication of conservation status. For almost all non-lichenized species this is an informal analysis of existing data, which may provide a pointer towards assessment in the future but which is not intended to take the place of a formal study. All the species targetted under the Lost & Found Fungi project will have formal assessments once the data gathering phase is complete.

Links are given below to red-lists and other information relevant to the British mycota. Red-lists are a snapshot in time, and of course become outdated more or less immediately they are published. Nevertheless, they are valuable documents which are used on a regular basis in conservation decision-making.

Conservation Designations for UK Taxa Conservation designations for UK taxa in Britain, compiled by JNCC from national legislative lists and other sources, and made available as a regularly updated spreadsheet. 
A Conservation Evaluation of British Lichens and Lichenicolous Fungi Assessments on a national basis of almost all British lichenized fungi and many lichenicolous species, by Ray Woods & Brian Coppins (2012). Endorsed by JNCC.
Red List of Fungi for Great Britain: Boletaceae Assessments on a national basis by Martyn Ainsworth, Justin Smith, Lynne Boddy, Bryn Dentinger, Michael Jordan, D. Parfitt, H.J. Rogers & Stuart Skeates (2013). Endorsed by JNCC.
Red List of Fungi for Great Britain: Bankeraceae, Cantharellaceae, Geastraceae, Hericiaceae and selected genera of Agaricaceae (Battarrea, Bovista, Lycoperdon & Tulostoma) and Fomitopsidaceae (Piptoporus) Assessments on a national basis by Justin Smith, Laura Martínez Suz and Martyn Ainsworth (2015, revised 2016). Awaiting endorsement by JNCC. A similar exercise is described on the website of the Fungus Conservation Trust
A Lichen Red Data List for Wales Assessments of lichen species in Wales, by Ray Woods on behalf of Plantlife (2010).
Rust Fungus Red Data List and Census Catalogue for Wales Assessments carried out by Ray Woods, Nigel Stringer, Debbie Evans and Arthur Chater (2015).
Smut and allied fungi of Wales. A Guide, Red Data List and Census Catalogue Assessments by Ray Woods, Arthur Chater, Paul Smith, Nigel Stringer & Debbie Evans (2018)
Red Data List of Threatened British Fungi Informal red list for a selection of species thought to be threatened, by Shelley Evans, Alick Henrici and Bruce Ing (2006).
The Global Fungal Red List Initiative Website for a project endorsed by IUCN to carry out red data assessments for fungi on a global basis.
Applying IUCN red-listing criteria for assessing and reporting on the conservation status of fungal species Valuable paper on the practicalities of red-listing, published in Fungal Ecology by Anders Dahlberg and Greg Mueller (2011).
SSSI Guidelines (Fungi) Guidelines for the designation of sites as SSSIs due to their rich non-lichenized fungal assemblages, on a habitat basis (2018)
SSSI Guidelines (Lichens and Lichenicolous Fungi) plus Appendix Similar scope to the chapter for non-lichenized fungi (2018)

Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith