Mycology
Future Plans
Collections (2006 onwards)
The whole of the Mycology section, including the herbarium and library, will be moved in 2006 to the new Jodrell Laboratory extension (Wolfson Wing) to occupy purpose-built facilities.
Holdings of fungi (British and worldwide) will be enhanced by targeted collection and exchange.
The databasing of the Mycology herbarium will continue including all new accessions, plus at least 1,500 existing collections each year.
The incorporation of chemical information into Mycology herbarium specimens and the corresponding database record (living collection, lichens) will continue.
Baseline Fungal Diversity Research (2006 onwards)
British Clavarioid and Ramarioid Fungi will be published as part of the Kew book series.
Create, maintain and update web version of Checklist of British and Irish Basidiomycota.
DNA barcoding of fungi from herbarium specimens based largely on UK macrofungi, will be continued. Barcoding of lichenised fungi, a collaborative project linked to the Barcoding of the British Flora project, is in the planning stage.
A volume for the identification of British Ascomycetes will be researched, collated and prepared (from 2008).
Comparative Fungal Biology (2006 onwards)
The library of lichen substances, linking biochemical information with DNA data, will continue to be amassed based on further investigation of British species.
Sustainable Utilisation of Fungal Resources (2006 onwards)
Targeted isolation of fungi from the wild will continue, as will the study of the chemistry and bioactivity of extracts from these fungi. It is planned to concentrate on investigating the anti-microbial and anti-insect activity of the extracts and metabolites.Those strains showing activity will be grown in bulk so that the active compounds can be isolated, and so there is enough material to confirm their structures and test them in a range of bioassays.
We will continue to identify factor(s) that may confer resistance of timber wood against dry rot fungi and also complete our research on the role that compounds derived from Donkioporia expansa play in the host selection behaviour of Deathwatch Beetles.
Conservation and Environmental Monitoring (2006 onwards)
Kew will continue to host and participate in the Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) Technical Committee and the Fungus Conservation Forum.
Records of fungi on the Kew site will continue to be collated and databased, and an account of these fungi will be prepared for publication.
A cost-effective scientific enquiry service to assist dissemination of information about the uses of fungi will be developed.
Funded by English Nature, a Fungal Conservation database for species of conservation concern (BAP species priority) will be established, using the British Mycological Society Fungal Records Database as a base.
Ectomycorrhizal tree invasion of British lowland heathlands will be investigated (project funded by NERC).