Subject: Re: cortinarius and amanitas from Spain

From: [email-masked] (John (Jack) Murphy)
Date: 13 Dec 1996 07:49:06 -0800

Dear fellow mycologists;
        Regarding the recent discussion concerning use of fungi as a
resource, and concerns about the conservation of fungi...
        I admit to sometimes holding strong environmentalist tendencies,
and I certainly relate to R. Courtecuisse's  sentiments -
>Places where fungi are
>well-productive should be protected, not over-harvested. Let the fungi
>quietly play their ECOLOGICAL role. They are not made to be eaten -at
>least certainly not if treated as a commercial resource !

        But what concerns me is the scientific documentation for these
sentiments.  Eef Arnold's  states "There is no evidence that picking of
mushrooms is harmful for subsequent fruiting, except in some cases where
mycelia are destroyed."  (Arnolds, E.  1995.  Conservation and management
of natural populations of edible fungi.  Can. J. Bot. 73(Suppl. 1):
S987-S998)  Lorelei Norvell's preliminary data show no evidence that
harvesting chanterelles affects their productivity, though she stresses
that ultimate conclusions must await completion of the project (Norvell, L.
1995.  Loving the Chaterelle to death?  The ten-year Oregon chaterelle
project.  McIlvainea 12(1): 6-25).  I know of no other studies addressing
this issue.
        Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but in developing
informed management plans for fungi we really need more data.  Does anyone
know of studies which have concluded a detrimental effect on fungi by
collecting?

sincerely,

Jack Murphy

*****************************************************

John Murphy, Ph.D.
Dept. of Botany, The Field Museum
Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, IL   60605-2496
(312) 241-6519
FAX:  (312) 427-2530

Please also crosspost email messages to  [email-masked] until
Dec. 20, 1996.

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From: [email-masked] (Regis.Courtecuisse)
Date: 16 Dec 1996 18:07:21 GMT

In article <v02140b04aed7cb6d4a12@[192.107.185.53]>, 
[email-masked] says...
>sentiments.  
>        Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but in 
developing informed management plans for fungi we really need more data. 
>Does anyone know of studies which have concluded a detrimental effect on 
fungi by collecting?
>Jack Murphy
Hi !
Thanks Jack for the precision. Of course I knew Eef Arnold's reference 
(but not Lorelei Norvell's one -thanks for it) and I must aggree with 
these objective studies results. I also have another reference from the 
last european meeting in Wageningen (1995) : S.Egli from Switzerland told 
something about the influence of harvesting fruitbodies on the 
macromycetes. Unfortunately, I don't have the summary at hand at the 
moment but I (think I) remember (well) that one of the conclusions 
concerned the trampling on the soil ground, which was harmful to mycelia 
though compacting the soil. (I promise to look for the paper and to post 
the result of my investigations with this communation).
The point is to know if people collect fungi and will ever collect them 
without destroying mycelia (some methods of collecting are really harmful 
and short-sighted) and without walking, trampling and compating too 
much...
But, I aggree that my reaction was perhaps a little bit too much 
aggressive and pessimistic. Nevertheless, I would be enclined not to be 
decidedly optimistic. We must keep a strong concern about the collecting 
practices and the potential threat they apply on forest and fungal 
future.
Regards.
	Regis