A Response To A Recent Call To Ban Collection Of Fungi
Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2015 8:13 pm
A Response To A Recent Call To Ban Collection Of Fungi:
I fear my response to this has developed into a bit of a rant ! My apologies if it is somewhat disjointed, but I hope it makes sense and helps. Given time I could have gone on for weeks !
As a mycologist this sort of thing is becoming an increasingly prevalent wail ! There is in fact no scientific evidence whatsoever that small scale collecting is in any way detrimental to the fungal mycelium. In fact the reverse is true with the greater probability of further fruit bodies being produced. It has been said to be rather akin to dead heading roses or picking blackberries. Dr Derek Reid, formerly head of mycology at Kew, told me years ago that even on a large scale this is the case and quoted me a large study in North America, with 'woods virtually the size of Wales' where at one site everything was collected, identified and the biomass weighed, at the second only a portion of individual fruit bodies was collected to enable identification and biomass estimated, whilst at the third site everything was heavily trampled. After 10 years the third site was by far the least rich, the second had deteriorated whilst the first, despite wholesale collecting, was by far the best for Fungi ! Unfortunately Derek is sadly no longer alive and I have been unable to trace this piece of research. However, I can report from personal experience that in Hertfordshire Bricket Wood is a site that was forayed annually for over 100 years and was regarded as a superb mycological site (the best in the County) with new species still being added at an exponential rate. The Management Committee in their 'wisdom' then decided to ban all collecting. After over ten years with a different regime they then reversed this decision. In the eight or nine years since then however the site has been hopeless ! We now of course have no idea when or why the deterioration occurred there, though I do have a theory on the latter. It was most certainly, however, not due to collecting ! Despite this the National Trust has in the last few years banned the Herts and Beds Fungi Group from collecting at Ashridge - also formerly an excellent site and studied continuously for well over 100 years. Ironically for many years we led an annual foray for them for which they charged the public thereby generating income ! It is of course too early to assess this impact of this but I know what I expect to happen and, although not a gambler, I would certainly be willing to put money on it !!
One area where there has been a lot of publicity over collecting is the New Forest though this has been blown up out of all proportion and many misguided individuals who see themselves as guardians of the countryside have latched onto this. The main concern here is in fact because of commercial pickers but, egged on by those with plenty of talk but little understanding, the press has got their teeth into this over a series of years. Despite the concerns the authorities still permit you 'to collect 1.5kg for personal consumption'. It is not clear whether this is in your lifetime, per year or per day ! However, 1.5kg is quite a lot of fungi ! Most people might buy 150 - 300 grams of mushrooms in a supermarket or greengrocer ! I doubt any field mycologist collecting for scientific collection would collect anything like that amount and indeed, having led forays all over the UK for well over 40 years, I would suggest it would be exceptional if an entire foray party ever collected in excess of 1.5kg ! The same of course would apply to entomologists collecting fungi to study associated Coleoptera, Diptera etc. The British Mycological Society has a collecting code of conduct which can be viewed on their website. All responsible Fungi Groups and individual mycologists adhere to this with some being even more careful than the recommendations.
What so many people fail to understand is that we still know so little about out mycoflora and our insect fauna. New species of Fungi (and of course insects) are being discovered all the time. I have genuinely lost count of the number of Fungi species that I have personally found new to the UK (supported by voucher specimens at Herb K) and I have had certainly three species new to science. In addition Fungal taxonomy and species concepts are a total mess. The authors of the 2005 Basidiomycota Checklist refused to recognise many species of Inocybe (as also in many other genera). I wrote the Keys to the British species of Inocybe and where I have been able to get DNA studies done (In Sweden, Spain or USA - never in the UK !!) I have been 100% vindicated in the species that I recognise yet which were rejected by the Checklist authors ! If collecting is banned then this curtails all future study on this difficult group of organisms as well, of course, on insect associates of Fungi. Far more species in the UK have become extinct through a lack of understanding than by collecting and certainly not by collecting for scientific purposes !
Very many toadstool species do not fruit every year and it is interesting that in some years some normally common species may be almost absent. The following year though they will be back. I have found it very interesting that this can happen with groups of related species. For example, if Chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius) has a bad year in southern England (though it is never common here in the way that it is in Scotland) so too does Yellowlegs (Cantharellus tubaeformis), Horn of Plenty (Craterellus cornucopiodes) and other relatives. Not surprisingly different species and groups of species have different 'ideal conditions'. It seems that whilst many are quite able to understand this concept with regard to the vegetables or even flowers in their gardens they seem incapable of grasping the fact that Fungi, insects, etc. work in a similar way ! Of primary importance in Fungal fruiting are rainfall levels and temperature. As a generalisation, which most casual observers should be able to cope with, a dry September and October will not produce a good season nor will it be good if it is cold, whilst severe frosts will generally curtail it abruptly. If frosts hold off, as a few years back when I only noted three frosts here in Bedfordshire all winter, the excellent season continued well into January ! All too often after one poor mycological year consequent on weather conditions I have heard it said that the fungi at a site are scarce and "this must be due to collecting" ! If you listen to most mycologists you would think that all seasons are worse than average - which of course is nonsense but nonetheless it is a fact that some seasons are better than average. We have had a couple of really excellent seasons in the past ten years, three really poor ones and the remaining five I would say are more or less what one might normally expect. One cannot assume though that one bad season or a run of average ones is due to collecting.
What a lot of non-mycologists, of course, also fail to realise is that the vast majority of the 15,000 species of fungi in the UK are in any case microfungi - of which most non-mycologists have no idea whatsoever, despite the fact that ironically they are, for the most part, much easier to identify than large fleshy toadstools which are most people's idea of Fungi. The collection of a single leaf with microfungi on it, often already fallen from the plant, is something that most would not regard as a problem and the concern is of course over larger fungi - those they can see ! Yet the blanket ban urged by some would presumably include these ! In fact far more toadstool species need microscopy for accurate identification than most of the popular literature would lead one to believe. Nonetheless, many toadstools, brackets etc. can be identified without collection. At one time we had one prominent, lone individual within the BMS calling for a complete ban on any collecting - except of course by him ! At the same time another prominent figure was claiming that it was impossible for any fungi to be identified in the field without collecting ! It is pretty obvious what the future of mycological study would be taking those two extremes !
It is often forgotten by misguided 'pseudoconservationists' that decline in higher plant flora is far more often due to lack of grazing than overgrazing and also that mowing is never as good as grazing - especially if cuttings are left on. Several years ago I wanted to hold a foray at Bedgebury Pinetum. Initially they said we could not collect as they said the mycoflora was deteriorating due to collecting. Eventually they did agree that we could do so but it was immediately apparent to me why the grassland mycoflora there was deteriorating - heavy mowers were being used to cut the grass with cuttings left on. The 'improvement' was thus responsible for the loss of species of higher plants …...…. as well as interesting grassland fungi !
Although my main background over the past 50 years has been in Field Mycology and Bryology I have always had a keen interest in Entomology and in recent years, frustrated by the nonsense in British mycology, I have reduced my involvement in this to spend more time on entomology (though I certainly would not consider myself other than a beginner in this with Coleoptera and Hymenoptera, the groups on which I am weakest !). Nonetheless, I am often challenged about collecting insects. My response is generally to ask the person challenging this whether they drive a car. I then point out that the average car driver collects more insects in a year than most entomologists would collect in a life time, with the car driver totally non-selective in what he/she collects; kills everything and does not even provide any scientific data ! Leading my annual tour to Bulgaria this year I had one client who bizarrely would often remain on the coach. She vehemently objected to the netting of insects, which were in almost every case then released unharmed, yet she spent her time eliminating everything she could find on the bus as 'another damned horsefly'. Many of what she killed were not horseflies at all and a good number were not even flies, but included Coleoptera, Hemiptera and Neuroptera ! I went round the bus carefully collecting horseflies and photographed them. Two of these were new species to me (along with others from other groups) and over the years I have found a good many this way, including one horsefly species only previously known from the type specimen from the Dardanelles (my collection identified by the leading European authority). I wonder who most intelligent people would think was the more responsible !
To sum up: In my view the prevention of collecting fungi or insects for scientific study is ludicrous and utterly misguided. It demonstrates the same level of ignorance as shown by the official reaction to the outbreak of Chalara Ash Dieback in the UK. From the initially suggested measures by government 'scientists' one would assume they thought that this was akin to foot and mouth ! In addition they immediately banned the import of Ash. Try rearranging the words 'shutting Horse the after door stable bolted' ! Logically, the import of all trees should have been banned years ago as totally unnecessary and with many potential risks associated, yet they continue to allow other tree species to be imported with impunity despite the fact that there are many other equally detrimental problems which will undoubtedly arise in the future whilst the imports continue !
Unfortunately, genuine scientific expertise is undervalued in this country today, the House of Commons has fewer members with any scientific training than at any time in history. It shows ! Furthermore, government shows either contempt or fear of proper scientific evidence and advice, preferring instead to listen to commercial interests, political supporters and loonies - though often I suspect these are synonymous !
Alan Outen
I fear my response to this has developed into a bit of a rant ! My apologies if it is somewhat disjointed, but I hope it makes sense and helps. Given time I could have gone on for weeks !
As a mycologist this sort of thing is becoming an increasingly prevalent wail ! There is in fact no scientific evidence whatsoever that small scale collecting is in any way detrimental to the fungal mycelium. In fact the reverse is true with the greater probability of further fruit bodies being produced. It has been said to be rather akin to dead heading roses or picking blackberries. Dr Derek Reid, formerly head of mycology at Kew, told me years ago that even on a large scale this is the case and quoted me a large study in North America, with 'woods virtually the size of Wales' where at one site everything was collected, identified and the biomass weighed, at the second only a portion of individual fruit bodies was collected to enable identification and biomass estimated, whilst at the third site everything was heavily trampled. After 10 years the third site was by far the least rich, the second had deteriorated whilst the first, despite wholesale collecting, was by far the best for Fungi ! Unfortunately Derek is sadly no longer alive and I have been unable to trace this piece of research. However, I can report from personal experience that in Hertfordshire Bricket Wood is a site that was forayed annually for over 100 years and was regarded as a superb mycological site (the best in the County) with new species still being added at an exponential rate. The Management Committee in their 'wisdom' then decided to ban all collecting. After over ten years with a different regime they then reversed this decision. In the eight or nine years since then however the site has been hopeless ! We now of course have no idea when or why the deterioration occurred there, though I do have a theory on the latter. It was most certainly, however, not due to collecting ! Despite this the National Trust has in the last few years banned the Herts and Beds Fungi Group from collecting at Ashridge - also formerly an excellent site and studied continuously for well over 100 years. Ironically for many years we led an annual foray for them for which they charged the public thereby generating income ! It is of course too early to assess this impact of this but I know what I expect to happen and, although not a gambler, I would certainly be willing to put money on it !!
One area where there has been a lot of publicity over collecting is the New Forest though this has been blown up out of all proportion and many misguided individuals who see themselves as guardians of the countryside have latched onto this. The main concern here is in fact because of commercial pickers but, egged on by those with plenty of talk but little understanding, the press has got their teeth into this over a series of years. Despite the concerns the authorities still permit you 'to collect 1.5kg for personal consumption'. It is not clear whether this is in your lifetime, per year or per day ! However, 1.5kg is quite a lot of fungi ! Most people might buy 150 - 300 grams of mushrooms in a supermarket or greengrocer ! I doubt any field mycologist collecting for scientific collection would collect anything like that amount and indeed, having led forays all over the UK for well over 40 years, I would suggest it would be exceptional if an entire foray party ever collected in excess of 1.5kg ! The same of course would apply to entomologists collecting fungi to study associated Coleoptera, Diptera etc. The British Mycological Society has a collecting code of conduct which can be viewed on their website. All responsible Fungi Groups and individual mycologists adhere to this with some being even more careful than the recommendations.
What so many people fail to understand is that we still know so little about out mycoflora and our insect fauna. New species of Fungi (and of course insects) are being discovered all the time. I have genuinely lost count of the number of Fungi species that I have personally found new to the UK (supported by voucher specimens at Herb K) and I have had certainly three species new to science. In addition Fungal taxonomy and species concepts are a total mess. The authors of the 2005 Basidiomycota Checklist refused to recognise many species of Inocybe (as also in many other genera). I wrote the Keys to the British species of Inocybe and where I have been able to get DNA studies done (In Sweden, Spain or USA - never in the UK !!) I have been 100% vindicated in the species that I recognise yet which were rejected by the Checklist authors ! If collecting is banned then this curtails all future study on this difficult group of organisms as well, of course, on insect associates of Fungi. Far more species in the UK have become extinct through a lack of understanding than by collecting and certainly not by collecting for scientific purposes !
Very many toadstool species do not fruit every year and it is interesting that in some years some normally common species may be almost absent. The following year though they will be back. I have found it very interesting that this can happen with groups of related species. For example, if Chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius) has a bad year in southern England (though it is never common here in the way that it is in Scotland) so too does Yellowlegs (Cantharellus tubaeformis), Horn of Plenty (Craterellus cornucopiodes) and other relatives. Not surprisingly different species and groups of species have different 'ideal conditions'. It seems that whilst many are quite able to understand this concept with regard to the vegetables or even flowers in their gardens they seem incapable of grasping the fact that Fungi, insects, etc. work in a similar way ! Of primary importance in Fungal fruiting are rainfall levels and temperature. As a generalisation, which most casual observers should be able to cope with, a dry September and October will not produce a good season nor will it be good if it is cold, whilst severe frosts will generally curtail it abruptly. If frosts hold off, as a few years back when I only noted three frosts here in Bedfordshire all winter, the excellent season continued well into January ! All too often after one poor mycological year consequent on weather conditions I have heard it said that the fungi at a site are scarce and "this must be due to collecting" ! If you listen to most mycologists you would think that all seasons are worse than average - which of course is nonsense but nonetheless it is a fact that some seasons are better than average. We have had a couple of really excellent seasons in the past ten years, three really poor ones and the remaining five I would say are more or less what one might normally expect. One cannot assume though that one bad season or a run of average ones is due to collecting.
What a lot of non-mycologists, of course, also fail to realise is that the vast majority of the 15,000 species of fungi in the UK are in any case microfungi - of which most non-mycologists have no idea whatsoever, despite the fact that ironically they are, for the most part, much easier to identify than large fleshy toadstools which are most people's idea of Fungi. The collection of a single leaf with microfungi on it, often already fallen from the plant, is something that most would not regard as a problem and the concern is of course over larger fungi - those they can see ! Yet the blanket ban urged by some would presumably include these ! In fact far more toadstool species need microscopy for accurate identification than most of the popular literature would lead one to believe. Nonetheless, many toadstools, brackets etc. can be identified without collection. At one time we had one prominent, lone individual within the BMS calling for a complete ban on any collecting - except of course by him ! At the same time another prominent figure was claiming that it was impossible for any fungi to be identified in the field without collecting ! It is pretty obvious what the future of mycological study would be taking those two extremes !
It is often forgotten by misguided 'pseudoconservationists' that decline in higher plant flora is far more often due to lack of grazing than overgrazing and also that mowing is never as good as grazing - especially if cuttings are left on. Several years ago I wanted to hold a foray at Bedgebury Pinetum. Initially they said we could not collect as they said the mycoflora was deteriorating due to collecting. Eventually they did agree that we could do so but it was immediately apparent to me why the grassland mycoflora there was deteriorating - heavy mowers were being used to cut the grass with cuttings left on. The 'improvement' was thus responsible for the loss of species of higher plants …...…. as well as interesting grassland fungi !
Although my main background over the past 50 years has been in Field Mycology and Bryology I have always had a keen interest in Entomology and in recent years, frustrated by the nonsense in British mycology, I have reduced my involvement in this to spend more time on entomology (though I certainly would not consider myself other than a beginner in this with Coleoptera and Hymenoptera, the groups on which I am weakest !). Nonetheless, I am often challenged about collecting insects. My response is generally to ask the person challenging this whether they drive a car. I then point out that the average car driver collects more insects in a year than most entomologists would collect in a life time, with the car driver totally non-selective in what he/she collects; kills everything and does not even provide any scientific data ! Leading my annual tour to Bulgaria this year I had one client who bizarrely would often remain on the coach. She vehemently objected to the netting of insects, which were in almost every case then released unharmed, yet she spent her time eliminating everything she could find on the bus as 'another damned horsefly'. Many of what she killed were not horseflies at all and a good number were not even flies, but included Coleoptera, Hemiptera and Neuroptera ! I went round the bus carefully collecting horseflies and photographed them. Two of these were new species to me (along with others from other groups) and over the years I have found a good many this way, including one horsefly species only previously known from the type specimen from the Dardanelles (my collection identified by the leading European authority). I wonder who most intelligent people would think was the more responsible !
To sum up: In my view the prevention of collecting fungi or insects for scientific study is ludicrous and utterly misguided. It demonstrates the same level of ignorance as shown by the official reaction to the outbreak of Chalara Ash Dieback in the UK. From the initially suggested measures by government 'scientists' one would assume they thought that this was akin to foot and mouth ! In addition they immediately banned the import of Ash. Try rearranging the words 'shutting Horse the after door stable bolted' ! Logically, the import of all trees should have been banned years ago as totally unnecessary and with many potential risks associated, yet they continue to allow other tree species to be imported with impunity despite the fact that there are many other equally detrimental problems which will undoubtedly arise in the future whilst the imports continue !
Unfortunately, genuine scientific expertise is undervalued in this country today, the House of Commons has fewer members with any scientific training than at any time in history. It shows ! Furthermore, government shows either contempt or fear of proper scientific evidence and advice, preferring instead to listen to commercial interests, political supporters and loonies - though often I suspect these are synonymous !
Alan Outen