Exclusions from County Database

[fairplay]

The title is slightly misleading as I had to keep it short, but I am seeking advice really from more experienced official County Recorders.

A few days ago I received a report of Morchella elata growing in a lady's garden in the vicinity of the compost heap.
I thanked the lady for informing me, but went on to tell her I won't bother to add it to the database as it would be a temporary occurrence due to an artificial habitat such as woodchip spillage, etc.

I've a feeling the lady must have read that M.elata is rare, as it probably is in it's natural habitat and I get the impression she was disappointed, so I wrote again to say if they appear next year in the same spot then I will add it to the database.

I went on to say that rare aliens such as Clathrus archerii (Devil's Fingers) or that dainty yellow Leucocoprinus birnbaumii which turns up in greenhouses would be included on the database.

The problem is a lot of fungi books include disturbed soil or waste sites as one of the habitats and a garden compost heap would come under this I guess, but for me there is not much difference between an artificial habitat and an Agaricus bisporus home-grow mushroom kit under the stairs.

What do other recorders do and if you were this lady and sent in a report would ordinary WAB members be disappointed if a species such as this was not included ?

Neil.
Suffolk Fungus Recorder.

[flaxton]

Hi Neil
Although I am not a county recorder I would accept this as a bona fide record. When someone is doing there PhD on wood chip fungi they are going to come to the wrong conclusion when there are no records because they have all been rejected as "artificial habitat". I know that is a bit far fetched but if you start down that road it would become quite tricky recording anything in a garden in case it had been imported either in a mulch or within the roots of a plant. Should you reject M elata growing in forestry commission land because all the trees have been imported?

Just my thoughts

Mal

[FungiJohn]

I think in this case I would agree with Mal too Neil.

I have a similar problem (If you can call it that!) in having a series of small logs taken from Clumber (with permission may I add!) which I observe throughout the year and record any species, BUT I do not include these records because I feel they would be inaccurate. If however I did come across something 'more interesting' I would record it with the caveat.

Hope this helps

John

[flaxton]

Originally Posted by FungiJohn

I have a similar problem (If you can call it that!) in having a series of small logs taken from Clumber (with permission may I add!) which I observe throughout the year and record any species, BUT I do not include these records because I feel they would be inaccurate.

John

John
Should I exclude the Thecotheus pelletieri and Pilobolus rorida var umbonata because I have "cultivated" them away from where I found the dung and so to record them would be "inaccurate"?

Mal

[fairplay]

Thanks guys, I was probably being unrealistic comparing a home growing kit to an 'artificial' habitat as it's entirely possible the garden was created on an existing habitat where Morels have always been (although she never mentioned this) but she did say there are no added wood-chips present.

So, perhaps the spores came on the wind - in which case, fair do's.
I'll get in touch again with the lady and say not knowing how the spores arived, I will now add it to the database.

Did you have any thoughts Chris ?
I know you previously mentioned how a damp carpet in the boot of a car with Peziza cerea growing on it would be interesting from a recording point of view.

Neil.

[FungiJohn]

Originally Posted by flaxton

John
Should I exclude the Thecotheus pelletieri and Pilobolus rorida var umbonata because I have "cultivated" them away from where I found the dung and so to record them would be "inaccurate"?

Mal

Hi Mal

I'm sure these would be fine, having no 'extreme' change of habitat, competition from other fungi etc that 'moved' logs would have.

John

[RoyW]

Although I have no experience at all of recording fungi (and apart from a few very obvious species wouldn't have a clue what I was looking at), I would have thought that it would make sense to record all of the examples mentioned in county databases - but with full details of the circumstances included with the record.

Even if the circumstances seem to leave very little doubt that the fungi in question has been brought in artificially (as may be the case if something previously recorded only at Clumber Park grew on Fungi Johns logs) the record still needs to appear in the database - with it clearly stated that the logs were known to have been transported. Otherwise it is possible for spores from a transported specimen to grow nearby, and remain 'undiscovered' for 50 years - after knowledge of the original transportation have been forgotten. If the original record is recorded it will offer a possible explanation for later records (although obviously not the only possible explanation).

I would certainly be interested in records of birds and dragonflies (the groups that I am a recorder for) that are known to, or thought likely to, have escaped/been introduced by man, and would enter these records into the relevant database.

[UB4 gardener]

personally i would add the record. i'm sure an entemologist would record all the insects found in the compost heap so why not the fungi?

and how far do you go with classifying artificial habitat. half the woods around me are planted, coppiced or coniferous so all could be classed as artificial couldn't they?

Chris
(Not the chris you were asking the question to.)

[USAfungi]

I keep the mushroom records for all the fungi found in my state, in reports one the important colums is introduced species.

John

[fairplay]

Thanks again to all that have responded, I copied all your replies to Maureen, the lady who gave the report, and also my reason for changing my mind.

I think the danger is probably giving a false impression as to the true distribution of Morchela spp. in the 'wild', but how do you determine 'wild' as has been pointed out ?

Because Morchela spp. are so sought after, people will be reluctant to divulge the location of 'their' secret patch where it occurs on a regular basis, and with people giving me records of where it appears as a 'one off' occurrence, this is likely to result in a totally false representation of it's true distribution throughout the county.

I guess I was trying to be too much of a 'purist', but I have relented and decided to add ALL reports, whilst making it clear if the source was from a - hmmm..... what word do I use here ? garden, man made habitat ? artificial conditions ? Ahhhhhhh.

Neil.