Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali - Universitàdegli Studi di Siena

MICOLOGY
	Staff Dr. C. Perini (Researcher) Dr. A. Laganà (Post-Doct. Research fellow ) Dr. E. Salerni (Contractor)
Research activity
Progress in conservation depends on information and understanding of the natural world. Fungi, as plants and animals, also have their ecological importance and must be studied and conserved like any other organisms. Mycology has been explored much less than botany and zoology, especially in the Mediterranean area, where biodiversity is known to be quite high (Loidi Arregui, 1998). Moreover, the world of fungi is more diverse than that of plants. Alarming reports of recent loss of biodiversity have emphasized the importance of studies of the natural heritage with a view to its conservation. The research unit of Mycology has been active since the '70es either in basic research or in practical mycology.
The activities of the group are here briefly reported:
Studies on the qualitative composition of macrofungi (Mycoflora) present in various Tuscan habitats and qualitative and quantitative analysis of fungal communities (Mycocoenology) in various forest ecosistems in central-southern Tuscany are carried out. The experimental approach for the increase in production of edible forest species is recent. Check-list and mapping can be obtained from the presence and distribution of various species. The first region of Italy to publish the results of a fungal census and distribution was Tuscany (Tofacchi & Mannini eds., 1999). The first part of the Check-list of Italian Fungi (Hymenomycetes, Basidiomycota) is nearly ready. Through research over long periods (monitoring) in permanent plots, the status of one or more fungal species or the whole fungal community is observed to determine temporal changes and find their possible causes. Finally the qualitative, quantitative, spatial and temporal frame of mycocoenoses is analized, aiming to find the criteria for fungal conservation in Tuscany.