Haelewaters Danny, Quandt C Alisha, Bartrop Lachlan, Cazabonne Jonathan, Crockatt Martha E, Cunha Susana P, De Lange Ruben, Dominici Laura, Douglas Brian, Drechsler-Santos Elisandro Ricardo, Heilmann-Clausen Jacob, Irga Peter J, Jakob Sigrid, Lofgren Lotus, Martin Thomas E, Muchane Mary Nyawira, Stallman Jeffery K, Verbeken Annemieke, Walker Allison K, Gonçalves Susana C
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA.
Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic.
Conserv Lett. 2024 May-Jun;17(3). doi: 10.1111/conl.13013. Epub 2024 Mar 22.
Fungal conservation is gaining momentum globally, but many challenges remain. To advance further, more data are needed on fungal diversity across space and time. Fundamental information regarding population sizes, trends, and geographic ranges is also critical to accurately assess the extinction risk of individual species. However, obtaining these data is particularly difficult for fungi due to their immense diversity, complex and problematic taxonomy, and cryptic nature. This paper explores how citizen science (CS) projects can be lever-aged to advance fungal conservation efforts. We present several examples of past and ongoing CS-based projects to record and monitor fungal diversity. These include projects that are part of broad collecting schemes, those that provide participants with targeted sampling methods, and those whereby participants collect environmental samples from which fungi can be obtained. We also examine challenges and solutions for how such projects can capture fungal diversity, estimate species absences, broaden participation, improve data curation, and translate resulting data into actionable conservation measures. Finally, we close the paper with a call for professional mycologists to engage with amateurs and local communities, presenting a framework to determine whether a given project would likely benefit from participation by citizen scientists.
真菌保护在全球范围内正蓬勃发展，但仍存在诸多挑战。为进一步推进，需要更多关于真菌多样性在空间和时间上的数据。有关种群规模、趋势和地理分布范围的基础信息对于准确评估单个物种的灭绝风险也至关重要。然而，由于真菌种类繁多、分类复杂且存在问题以及其隐秘的特性，获取这些数据对真菌来说尤其困难。本文探讨了如何利用公民科学（CS）项目来推进真菌保护工作。我们展示了过去和正在进行的一些基于公民科学的记录和监测真菌多样性的项目实例。这些项目包括作为广泛采集计划一部分的项目、为参与者提供针对性采样方法的项目，以及参与者收集可从中获取真菌的环境样本的项目。我们还研究了此类项目在如何获取真菌多样性、估计物种缺失情况、扩大参与度、改善数据管理以及将所得数据转化为可行的保护措施方面所面临的挑战和解决方案。最后，我们呼吁专业真菌学家与业余爱好者和当地社区合作，并提出一个框架来确定某个特定项目是否可能从公民科学家的参与中受益，以此结束本文。
