Conservation management for forest fungi in Estonia: The case of polypores

Abstract

Conservation management for fungi has lagged behind animal and plant conservation, and remains largely restricted to protecting known locations of few conspicuous threatened species. We used Estonian polypores as an example of how conservation options can be systematically screened, based on the Red List of threatened species and in co-operation with practitioners. For a total of 61 species, we identified a broad range of management options representing diverse approaches (site protection; prescriptions of land use; protection of individuals; special management; protection via umbrella species). The results demonstrated the merits of systematic and multi-disciplinary assessments for fungal conservation and setting related research priorities. Our assessment also supported a theoretical expectation that some ecosystem conservation strategies should be explicitly designed based on functionally important groups of fungi. The advancement of fungal conservation appears largely dependent on co-operation between mycologists, conservationists and managers.