People
Spooner, Brian
| Job Title | Mycologist, Head of Mycology, Ascomycetes |
|---|---|
| Department | Jodrell |
| Section | Mycology |
| Science Teams |
Mycology United Kingdom |
| Joined Kew | 1975 |
| Foreign Language(s) |
Qualifications & Appointments
BSc, Univ. London, 1972
PhD, Univ. Reading, 1984.
Editorial board & Book Review Editor, Kew Bulletin
Council, Ray Society.
Role
Managing Mycology team; systematics of temperate and tropical fungi (Ascomycota), with special interest in Asia and Australasia.
Responsibility for management and development of the Mycology Section. Research is focused on the systematics of discomycete groups (Ascomycotina: Helotiales, Leotiales, Pezizales) worldwide, including monographic and regional studies. Current research is concentrated on Brunei and Australasia (resulting from collaborative, externally-funded projects), as well as the Azores, Antarctica, and the UK. UK projects currently include development of a web-based version of the recently published multi-funded ‘Checklist & Database of British & Irish Basidiomycota’ and preparation of a Fungal Conservation Database, the latter a 1-year project funded by English Nature. A web-based checklist and bibliography of Antarctic fungi (jointly authored in collaboration with the British Antarctic Survey) has been prepared (to be finalised and maintained at BAS), and a review paper on Antarctic fungi is currently being drafted.
Projects
Checklist of British and Irish Basidiomycota: Web Version and Revised Edition
Database for UK Fungi of Conservation Importance
Fungal Metabolites: their Ecological Role and Economic Potential
Plant Diversity Challenge: the Official UK Response to the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation
Selected Publications 2001-2005
Bridge, P.D., Roberts, P.J., Spooner, B.M. & Panchal, G. (2003). On the unreliability of published DNA sequences. New Phytologist 160: 43 – 48.
Spooner, B. (2001). The Larger Cup Fungi in Britain – part 3. The genera Peziza and Plicaria. Field Mycology 2: 51 – 59.
Spooner, B.M. & Kemp, S. (2005). Epichloë in Britain. Mycologist 19: 82 – 87.
Spooner, B. & Roberts, P. (2005). New Naturalist: Fungi. London: HarperCollins. 594 pp.
Legon, N.W., Henrici, A., Roberts, P.J., Spooner, B.M. & Watling, R. (2005). Checklist of the British and Irish Basidiomycota. Kew: RBG Kew. 517 pp.
Selected Publications pre-2001
Spooner, B.M. (1987). Helotiales of Australasia. Geoglossaceae, Orbiliaceae, Sclerotiniaceae, Hyaloscyphaceae. Bibliotheca Mycologica 116: 1 - 711.
Pegler, D.N., Spooner, B.M. & Young, T.W.K. (1993). British Truffles. A Revision of British Hypogeous Fungi. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 216 pp.
Pegler, D.N., Laessøe, T. & Spooner, B.M. (1995). British Puffballs, Earthstars and Stinkhorns. An account of the British Gasteroid Fungi. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens. 255 pp.
Punithalingam, E. & Spooner, B.M. (1999).Coprophilous discomycetes from the Azores. KewBulletin 54: 541 – 560.
Roberts, P.J. & Spooner, B.M. (2000). Cantharelloid, clavarioid and thelephoroid fungi from Brunei Darussalam. KewBulletin 55: 843 – 851.