Threat assessments, problems and countermeasures of China’s macrofungi

Abstract

The IUCN red list assessment lays the foundation for developing effective conservation strategies and action plan for biological species based on sound science. Since 2000, Chinese mycologists have assessed the threat status of macrofungi in China by using methods that incorporated but did not fully integrate IUCN categories and criteria. Because the number of species evaluated was limited and the geographical coverages were often relatively narrow, those assessments did not accurately reflect the overall status of Chinese macrofungi. To correct this gap, a nationwide Red List assessment of macrofungi was organized and the first national Red List of 9,302 species in 1,298 genera and 227 families was announced recently. More than 140 experts throughout the country took parts in the assessment. The results showed that 97 species of macrofungi were threatened. Based on the assessment results, combined with the current status of the conservation of macrofungi in China, five major measures were suggested to strengthen the conservation of these fungi: (1) Enforce the legislation of laws, speed up the establishment of regulations and improve the policy-making system; (2) Optimize the network system for in situ protection of macrofungi and enhance ex situ protection capability; (3) Further investigate the status of macrofungi and establish a monitoring program; (4) Strengthen outreach and education about mcrofungi in the popular science domain, i.e., raising public awareness of conservation of important fungal resources; (5) Increase funds for fungal conservation and to improve the supportive capability of science and technology.