Fungi represent a poorly understood and neglected group of organisms that are rich in scientific research potential. An explanation of the roles of fungi in applied research requires baseline knowledge of their diversity, ecological roles in nature, and evolutionary history. Here the investigators will produce baseline data for Australian Inocybaceae. The mushroom family Inocybaceae is ideal for a revisionary synthesis because of its cosmopolitan distribution (including a highly diverse assemblage that occurs across tropical and temperate Australia), and its long evolutionary history of obligate symbioses with both tropical and temperate plants. Integration of austral tropical and temperate taxa is important to understand historical processes that have shaped current distributions and diversification patterns.
In addition to the use of modern taxonomic revisionary methods, analytical studies of the evolutionary history of Inocybaceae over the past 65 million years will be performed to address hypotheses of broad biological appeal. This research will include collaborations between scientists from different continents and provide field and analytical training for two junior researchers. Results will be disseminated online and via monographs, journals, and conferences and forays involving scientists, students, and nature enthusiasts.
Taxonomic diversity of fungi is poorly known. Only a fraction of the estimated number of species have been formally described. This project focused on a family of mushroom-forming fungi, the Inocybaceae, that are important root symbionts of plants that dominate a wide variety of habitats in Australia. The main goal of this project was to produce a systematic revision of species in this family and provide resources to enable their identification. When the project began seventeen species of Inocybaceae were accepted from Australia. At the culmination of this research, we have discovered a total of 137 species, 101 of which are described as new. This work will be published in 2015 as a volume of the Fungi of Australia series including species descriptions, photographs of specimens in the field, line art of characteristic features, and taxonomic keys for identification. The project provided training and support for one postdoctoral researcher, an Australian visiting PhD student, and four undergraduates. The postdoc has now landed a permament academic position at the University of Uppsala, the Australian graduate student has graduated with her PhD, and one of the undergraduates produced an award winning poster of her REU research at a campus wide competition at the University of Tennessee. The project resulted in 20 publications in peer-reviewed journals, two websites, and will culminate with the publication of a taxonomic monograph. The project supported several workshops for natural history enthusiasts in Australia and the United States, efforts to promote a better understanding of fungi.
