Monitoring and mapping Fungal Diversity for nature conservation

Fungal diversity can be explored in many ways, including classic fruit body surveys, as well DNA-based analyses of environmental DNA (eDNA). These two approaches have run side by side for many years, but has to a limited extent been combined. Our overarching objective in FunDive is to bring the two approaches together, by evaluating strengths and weaknesses of either, and by exploring the complementary potentials. While fruit body analyses rely on morphological species concepts, DNA-based biodiversity analyses rely on identification using reference sequence databases. We aim to look into methodological problems related to combining the different data sources. The project is divided into six parts, all aiming to provide improved knowledge, infrastructure and tools for monitoring fungal biodiversity.

Despite obvious synergetic potentials, exploration of fungal biodiversity by citizen science and eDNA have been developing in parallel tracks, with some national scale projects being exceptions. Our overarching objective in FunDive is to bring the two approaches together, by evaluating strengths and weaknesses of either, and by exploring the complementary potentials. A critical limitation in that respect is that citizen science and eDNA rely on different species concepts. While citizen science traditionally rely on a Morphological Species Concept (MSC), eDNA based approaches rely on sequence-based Species Hypotheses (SH). In many cases, neither of these are unambiguously linked to biologically well defined species with a scientific binomial, hindering comparisons of species lists across datasets. This lack of consistency is not limited to poorly explored groups of microfungi, but is also prominent in conservation-relevant macrofungi, including for instance waxcaps, widely used to assess conservation value of improved grasslands. Hence, an important additional objective in FunDive is to provide a much improved platform for consistent naming of fungal taxa. The project is divided into six interlinked Work Packages (WPs), of which two are supportive missions aiming to provide improved knowledge, infrastructure and tools for monitoring fungal biodiversity. Three directly challenge important research questions with the aim to provide novel insight into fungal biodiversity patterns, their drivers and, more practically, to the design of sensible monitoring programmes. The last WP is dedicated to project coordination, communication and outreach to stakeholders. Overall, the five scientific WPs cover all three themes of the current Biodiversa call.