The following is a letter from Mycologist, The International Journal of Mycology (published for the British Mycological Society) February 1998. The editors of this newsletter feel that it offers a fresh viewpoint on fungi and their role in the ecosystem.

As an entomologist I am pleased to see in the pages of the Mycologist (vol.11: 27-28, 89-90) that the effects of fungus collecting are being evaluated by mycologists. I would like to add an extra dimension.

In Britain there are about 1000 species of invertebrates that require fungi during their life cycle. Many of these are dependent on fruiting bodies in the size range that people collect. For instance there are 529 species of fungus gnats on the British list so far (most breed in fungi), plus various craneflies, hoverflies, fruit flies and many other flies. Several hundred species of beetles are fungus specialists, plus various moths, parasitic wasps of larvae, and so the list could continue.

Some of these invertebrates are specific to particular fungus species or a narrow taxonomic group of fungi. Others have a wider scope of host fungi, but still within limits. Some have a narrow season. What is clear in the field is that any individual fungus fruiting body may only contain one or a few species. To maintain a species-rich invertebrate fauna requires both a diverse fungus flora and a plentiful supply of fruiting bodies.

Thus intensive and regular diligent harvesting of wild fungus fruiting bodies, whether for personal or commercial purposes, must place invertebrate biodiversity at risk on the sites concerned. The most suitable sites for fungus collecting will often be those that are (or were) best for invertebrates. Apart from the collection of edible fungi, reports reach me of deliberate smashing up of inedible fungi together with those infested by `maggots', and also of total collecting blitzes pending selection by culinary specialists: unwanted fungi are dumped, any insect larvae having little chance of completing development once their home is disturbed.

Whether or not collecting fungi affects the long term survival of fungus species, it is evident that a rich dependent invertebrate fauna cannot maintain itself on the left-overs from intensive fungus collecting. We are also surely concerned with maintaining ecological community structures.