Funded by: Artdatabanken, Sweden
Within this extensive project focus is on the diversity and phylogeny of corticioid fungi, viz. species forming thin, effused fruiting bodies on the underside of wood and other debris on the ground. These fungi are mostly saprophytes taking part in the decay of dead wood. Despite a general similarity in fruiting body construction they are phylogenetically extremely diverse, which is the reason our research has to consider all major groups within Agaricomycetes. The ultimate goal is to revise the classification of all corticioid fungi but also to discover and describe new species. Almost 2 000 species are known but inventories in tropical and subtropical regions reveal a huge amount of unknown species. All revisions are based on DNA data and we publish our results both in international journals and as identification manuals. Currently the main effort is directed towards two subprojects.
Subprojects
Phylogeny and systematics of Polyporales
The large order Polyporales contains the majority of the bracket fungi (polypores) and a considerable share of the corticioid fungi. The phylogenetic structure within Polyporales is poorly known and the current classification does not reflect monophyletic groups. Within this project we develop multigene datasets in order to get increased resolution in phylogenetic analyses. These analyses will be followed by extensive revisions of the classification of genera and families. The project is a collaboration coordinated from David Hibbett’s lab and supports several PhD’s and postdocs.
Main collaborators: David Hibbett, Clark University, USA, Tuomo Niemelä and Otto Miettinen, Uinversity of Helsinki, Finland. Leif Ryvarden, University of Oslo, Karen Nakasone, USDA Forest Products laboratory, Madison, USA, Elisabet Sjökvist, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
A manual of European corticioid fungi
From 1972 to 1988 a flora of corticioid fungi in North Europe was produced by John Eriksson and collaborators, the first modern fully illustrated flora of these fungi. We are now producing a completely rewritten and enlarged version that covers all Europe and increases the number of treated species from 500 to 800.
Collaborators: Leif Ryvarden, University of Oslo.