Wild mushrooms are a vital source of income and nutrition for many poor communities and of value to recreational foragers. Literature relating to the edibility of mushroom species continues to ...expand, driven by an increasing demand for wild mushrooms, a wider interest in foraging, and the study of traditional foods. Although numerous case reports have been published on edible mushrooms, doubt and confusion persist regarding which species are safe and suitable to consume. Case reports often differ, and the evidence supporting the stated properties of mushrooms can be incomplete or ambiguous. The need for greater clarity on edible species is further underlined by increases in mushroom‐related poisonings. We propose a system for categorizing mushroom species and assigning a final edibility status. Using this system, we reviewed 2,786 mushroom species from 99 countries, accessing 9,783 case reports, from over 1,100 sources. We identified 2,189 edible species, of which 2,006 can be consumed safely, and a further 183 species which required some form of pretreatment prior to safe consumption or were associated with allergic reactions by some. We identified 471 species of uncertain edibility because of missing or incomplete evidence of consumption, and 76 unconfirmed species because of unresolved, differing opinions on edibility and toxicity. This is the most comprehensive list of edible mushrooms available to date, demonstrating the huge number of mushrooms species consumed. Our review highlights the need for further information on uncertain and clash species, and the need to present evidence in a clear, unambiguous, and consistent manner.
Both habitat filtering and dispersal limitation influence the compositional structure of forest communities, but previous studies examining the relative contributions of these processes with ...variation partitioning have primarily used topography to represent the influence of the environment. Here, we bring together data on both topography and soil resource variation within eight large (24–50 ha) tropical forest plots, and use variation partitioning to decompose community compositional variation into fractions explained by spatial, soil resource and topographic variables. Both soil resources and topography account for significant and approximately equal variation in tree community composition (9–34% and 5–29%, respectively), and all environmental variables together explain 13–39% of compositional variation within a plot. A large fraction of variation (19–37%) was spatially structured, yet unexplained by the environment, suggesting an important role for dispersal processes and unmeasured environmental variables. For the majority of sites, adding soil resource variables to topography nearly doubled the inferred role of habitat filtering, accounting for variation in compositional structure that would previously have been attributable to dispersal. Our results, illustrated using a new graphical depiction of community structure within these plots, demonstrate the importance of small-scale environmental variation in shaping local community structure in diverse tropical forests around the globe.
Entomopathogenic fungi are ubiquitous in tropical rainforests and feature a high level of diversity. This group of fungi not only has important ecological value but also medicinal value. ...Nevertheless, they are often ignored, and many unknown species have yet to be discovered and described. The present study aims to contribute to the taxonomical and phylogenetic understanding of the genus
by describing three new species collected from Guizhou and Yunnan Provinces in China and Krabi Province in Thailand. The three novel species named
, and
share similar morphologies as those in the genus
, containing solitary, simple, fleshy stroma, completely immersed perithecia and cylindrical asci with thickened caps and filiform ascospores that often disarticulate at maturity. Phylogenetic analyses of combined LSU, SSU, TEF1-α, RPB1, RPB2, and ITS sequence data confirm their placement in the genus
In this study, the three entomopathogenic taxa are comprehensively described with color photographs and phylogenetic analyses. A synopsis table and a key to all treated species of
are also included.
The integration of ecology and evolutionary biology requires an understanding of the evolutionary lability in species' ecological niches. For tropical trees, specialization for particular soil ...resource and topographic conditions is an important part of the habitat niche, influencing the distributions of individual species and overall tree community structure at the local scale. However, little is known about how these habitat niches are related to the evolutionary history of species. We assessed the relationship between taxonomic rank and tree species' soil resource and topographic niches in eight large (24–50 ha) tropical forest dynamics plots. Niche overlap values, indicating the similarity of two species' distributions along soil or topographic axes, were calculated for all pairwise combinations of co-occurring tree species at each study site. Congeneric species pairs often showed greater niche overlap (i.e., more similar niches) than non-congeneric pairs along both soil and topographic axes, though significant effects were found for only five sites based on Mantel tests. No evidence for taxonomic effects was found at the family level. Our results indicate that local habitat niches of trees exhibit varying degrees of phylogenetic signal at different sites, which may have important ramifications for the phylogenetic structure of these communities.
Systomus martenstyni is an endemic and endangered fish of Sri Lanka. This species was earlier known to be restricted to the Amban Ganga River basin. Recently two populations of S. martenstyni were ...located in two major tributaries of River Mahaweli: Loggal Oya and Badulu Oya in the Uva province of Sri Lanka. These new populations are relatively small and are facing the threat of habitat quality degradation and habitat loss. Effective conservation actions should be undertaken to conserve this endangered fish species.
Excessive use of chemical fertilizers (CF) has led to degrade agroecosystems, and human and environmental health. In this context, maintaining soil quality has been challenging. As alternatives to ...CF, ecofriendly substitutes are being tested, but to a lesser extent. Amongst, Biofilm biofertilizers (BFBF) which improve soil and crop yields are being popularized among farmers. Thus far, there is no published research regarding the effect of BFBF on soil quality and crop production at large scale cultivations. Therefore, present study investigated this in lowland rice farming of Sri Lanka. The study was carried out in 54 farmer fields spreading over thousands of hectares in three districts representing major rice growing areas. In each location, two consecutive, uniform paddy fields were applied separately with farmers' CF practice and the newly introduced BFBF practice. Root zone soil samples were collected and analyzed for 16 physico-chemical and microbial parameters, and grain yield was recorded at harvest. The results showed that the application of BFBF increased soil nutrient contents and microbial communities, and finally it led to increase grain yield over the CF alone practice. A significant relationship between a developed soil quality index (SQI) and grain yield only in the BFBF practice indicated that the soil has a major role to play only in ecofriendly rice cultivation. It is concluded from this study that the CF alone application would not be sufficient to break yield barrier for which the reinstated microbial action of BFBF is a must.
Both native and non‐native bamboo populations can expand their distributions in a rather irregular manner, inflicting changes in native vegetation with potential consequences for litter‐dwelling ...arthropod communities. To our knowledge, no studies have been undertaken to explore the impacts of bamboo spread on litter‐dwelling arthropods.
This study examined the impacts of Bambusa bambos, a spreading native bamboo species, on abundance and order richness of litter‐dwelling arthropods in tropical moist evergreen forests. Bamboo‐rich and non‐bamboo forests were compared in three study sites at Moragahakanda in the Central Province of Sri Lanka. Arthropods were sampled from leaf litter and individuals were categorised into their respective orders.
Arthropod abundance and order richness were higher in bamboo‐rich forests than in non‐bamboo forests across all sites, indicating more hospitable micro‐habitat conditions following bamboo spread. Litter‐dwelling arthropods belonging to orders Blattodea, Hymenoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera and Orthoptera were either more prevalent or more frequently associated with bamboo‐rich forests than non‐bamboo forests, suggesting a potential shift in community structure.
The abundance and order richness of litter‐dwelling arthropods in non‐bamboo forests was explained by environmental variables, whilst no such associations were observed in bamboo‐rich forests.
The overall findings indicate that the spread of bamboo may facilitate litter‐dwelling arthropods and cause a compositional shift in taxonomic assemblages, perhaps as a result of changes in the micro‐habitat conditions on the forest floor.
The impacts of a native bamboo on litter‐dwelling arthropods
PDF
