/w 



PUiiits — Our Lniiiii Resotiaes 



For further information: 



Gregory M. Mueller 



The FielJ Museum 



Department of Botany 



Chicago. IL 60605 



estimate of species inciiness and dominance, 

 researchers must sample over several years. 

 These studies also have documented that certain 

 collecting techniques work better for some 

 fungi than others, which emphasizes the need to 

 develop standardized sampling protocols for 

 collecting data on fungal species" richness and 

 fruiting patterns. 



Satellite imagery has been ct)mbined with a 

 long-term mapping program of fungal fruitbod- 

 ies to assess the relative health and growth of 

 particular tree-mycorrhiza fungus pairs in 

 southern Mississippi (Cibula and Ovrebo 1988). 

 This approach shows great promise for directly 

 investigating the effect of certain fungi on tree 

 health. These data, however, are based only on 

 aboveground information, and there is still 

 some question about how well the appearance 

 of fruitbodies growing under a particular tree 

 predicts what fungi are forming myconhizae 

 with that tree at that time. To address this ques- 

 tion, researchers have developed molecular 

 techniques using DNA amplification proce- 

 dures to compare the myconhizae on the roots 

 of certain trees with fungal fruitbodies occur- 

 ring near the tree (Bruns and Gardes 1993). The 

 preliminary data documented that there is not 

 always a one-to-one conelation between fruit- 

 bodies and myconhizae, and that caution must 

 be used when using fruitbodies alone. 



Further Studies 



The studies mentioned in this article illus- 

 trate the range of work in the United States on 

 assessing diversity and determining possible 

 changes in fruiting patterns of macrofungi. 

 More work is needed to document the status and 

 trends of macrofungi in North America. These 

 data are vital because of the integral role that 

 macrofungi play in forest systems as decom- 

 posers and recyclers, plant pathogens, mutual- 

 ists, and food for small mammals, and because 

 of the growing commercial importance of these 

 fungi. 



References 



Arnolds. E.. and B. de Vries. 1993. Conservation of fungi 

 in Europe. Pages 21 1-234 in D.N. Pegler. L. Boddy. B. 

 Ing. and P.M. Kirk, eds. Fungi of Europe: investigation, 

 recording and conservation. The Royal Botanic Gardens, 

 Kew. U.K. 



Bigelow. H.E. 1982. North American species of Clitocvbe. 

 Pan I . Beihefte zur Nova Hedwigia 72:5-280. 



Bigelow. H.E. 1985. North American species of Clitocyhe. 

 Part 2. Beihefte zur Nova Hedwigia 81:281-471. 



Bruns. T, and M. Gardes. 1993. Molecular tools for the 

 identification of ectomycorrhizal fungi: taxon-specific 

 oligonucleotide probes for suilloid fungi. Molecular 

 Ecology 2:233-242. 



Cihula. W.G., and C.L. Ovrebo. 1988. Mycosociological 

 studies of mycorrhizal fungi in two loblolly pine plots in 

 Mississippi and some relationships with remote sensing. 

 Pages 268-307 in J.D. Greer, ed. Remote sensing for 

 resource inventory, planning and monitoring. 

 Proceedings of the Second Forest Service Remote 

 Sensmg Application Conference. American Society for 

 Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Falls Church. VA. 



Fellner. R. 1993. Air pollution and mycorrhizal fungi in 

 central Europe. Pages 239-250 in D.N. Pegler. L. Boddy. 

 B. Ing. and P.M. Kirk. eds. Fungi of Europe: investiga- 

 tion, recording and conservation. The Royal Botanic 

 Gardens. Kew, U.K. 



Gilbertson, R.L.. and L. Ryvarden. 1986. North American 

 Polypores. Vol. 1. Fungitlora A/S. Oslo. 433 pp. 



Gilbertson. R.L.. and L. Ryvarden. 1987. Pages 437-885 in 

 North American Polypores. Vol. 2. Fungiflora A/S. Oslo. 



Hesler. L.R.. and A.H. Smith. 1979. North American 

 species of Laclarius. The University of Michigan Press, 

 Ann Arbor. 841 pp. 



Jenkins. D.T 1986. Amanita of North America. Mad River 

 Press, Eureka, CA. 198 pp. 



Moser, M. 1983. Keys to the Agarics and Boleti 

 (Polyporales. Boletales. Agaricales, Russulales). Roger 

 Phillips, London. 535 pp. 



Pegler. D.N.. L. Boddy. B. Ing. and PM. Kirk. eds. 1993. 

 Fungi of Europe: investigation, recording and conserva- 

 tion. The Royal Botanic Gardens. Kew. U.K. 322 pp. 



Seaver. F.J. 1942. The North American cup fungi 

 (Operculates). Rev. ed. Seaver. New York. Reprinted by 

 Lubrecht and Cramer. 377 pp. -e 74 plates. 



Seaver. F.J. 1951. The North American cup fungi 

 (Inoperculates). Seaver. New York. 428 pp. 



Smith. A.M.. H.V Smith, and N.S, Weher. 1981. How to 

 know the non-gilled tJeshy fungi. 2nd ed. William C. 

 Brown. Dubuque. lA. 324 pp. 



Vogt. K.A.. J. Bloomfield, J.F. Ammirati, and S.R. 

 Ammirati. 1992. Sporocarp production by 

 Basidiomycetes. with emphasis on forest ecosystems. 

 Pages 563-581 in G.C. Carroll and D.T. Wicklow. eds. 

 The fungal community. Marcel DekJ^er. Inc.. New York. 



Lichens 



by 



James P. Bennett 

 National Biological Senice 



Lichens are a unique life form because they 

 are actually two separate organisms, a fun- 

 gus and an alga, living together in a symbiosis. 

 Lichens seem to reproduce sexually, but what 

 appears to be a fruiting structure is actually that 

 of the fungal component. Consequently, lichens 

 are classified by botanists as fungi, but are given 

 their own lichen names. 



Lichens are small plant-like organisms that 

 grow just about everywhere: soils, tree trunks 

 and branches, rocks and artificial stones, roofs, 

 fences, walls, and even underwater. They are 

 famous for survivins climatic extremes and are 



even the dominant vegetation in those habitats. 

 Some lichens, however, are only found in very 

 specialized habitats. The diversity of lichens in 

 an area, therefore, is highly dependent on habi- 

 tat diversity. Many special habitats across the 

 United States are declining or disappearing 

 because of human activities, and some lichen 

 species are consequently in decline. 



Lichens are very diverse in form: some grow 

 tlat and appressed to a substrate, others are 

 more leaf-like and grow free of the substrate, 

 and yet others have complex filamentous and 

 blade-like forms. 



