Memorandum by Professor Roy Watling MBE,
PhD., DSc., F.R.S.E., F.I.Biol., C.Biol., F.L.S.
This is a personal response from a retired Head
of Mycology and Plant Pathology, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
and former Acting Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden; from
a former President of the British Mycological Society and Member
of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the earlier National
Conservancy Council. I am an Honorary Member of the American Mycological
and German Mycological Societies, the North American Mycological
Association and a Corresponding member of the Dutch Mycological
Society.
I wish to address the problem of mycological
systematics and taxonomy in the framework of the UK as I fear
over the last decade the UK base has been almost irreversibly
damaged.
Fungi are an important element of our everyday
life, food and the food industry, pharmaceuticals, industry at
large and human, animal and plant diseases; indeed fungi in their
activities are extremely important in the health of all ecosystems
even giving indications as to climate change and environmental
degradation. Fungi range from sea-level to mountain tops and to
Antarctica even in the depths of the maritime abysses—even
aviation fuel! In order to alleviate error as with other organisms
an accurate identification of fungi is paramount. New species
of fungi are found in their hundreds each year world-wide, and
the British Isles does not surprisingly escape and that is despite
a long tradition of natural sciences in these islands.
Since the retirement of senior members of staff
at both Edinburgh and Kew, there is no longer a macromycetologist
in the UK dedicated to the mushroom and toadstools and their allies,
one of the most important ectomycorrhizal groups, as well as edibles
and those causing poisoning, especially in children and numbering
over 2,500 in the British Isles alone. There are even more micro-fungi!.
At Kew a remaining member of staff has to double up on these fungi
which is not a healthy situation and Scotland with a rather different
mycodiversity and in need of a macromycologist, has only an ornamental
plant pathologist.
The barriers to the employment of mycologists
is two-fold, being a lack of the teaching of systematic mycology
in tertiary education and its importance, and in the world of
botany, the overwhelming emphasis being placed on flowering plants,
but our rainforests, the lungs of the globe, are in fact dependent
heavily on fungi for their continuation. This imbalance needs
to be addressed. Fungi should be an integral part of any countries
research funding. Even in developing countries such as China,
Thailand and Malaysia of which I have personal knowledge they
put a high value on an understanding of their, and the world's
mycodiversity. I fear for the future of the western mentality
as molecular techniques although exceedingly useful in solving
some problems has to be underpinned by basic field work and systematics
however archaic that may seem and something which laboratory based
workers tend to forget. Molecular work is thought to be at the
cutting edge of science but if it is not supported by clear ecological
and identificatory data it will flounder, and with the lack of
young people coming along to undertake fungal systematics this
so called state of the art science which calls on much of the
funding available, will hesitate and fall. At the moment mycololgy
relies heavily on the participation of amateurs but they can only
do a certain amount of work themselves; they need professional
back-up, follow-up and importantly encouragement. The training
of partaxonomists directed in some countries is certainly a way
forward and I am glad to see some NGOs have seen the light whereas
central Government turns a blind eye.
The natural collections collectively in Britain
are the world's best and are not in any danger of being lost,
but why have collections especially if many were obtained during
the Empirial era of Britain when no one in Britain works on them
today to forward our knowledge. There are over 10,000 collections
of fungi from Malaysia and Singapore alone in Edinburgh, yet we
have to rely on foreign visitors, who value these collections,
examining them during their studies and working with retired or
elderly mycologists. The experience of the latter gained over
many years and paid for initially by the British public, through
taxes, will be lost when so much can be passed on. That is why
developing countries are welcoming us to teach their under- and
post-graduate students and researchers; what a waste of British
money! Even our own Scottish collections of fungi are not even
available to the National Biodiversity Data base, because money
is not available for them to be accessed digitally.
The costs of even some of the items I have covered
in the above, eg data-basing Scottish fungal collections costs
pennies, compared with the money which has been put into molecular
work let alone astronomy. Would it not be just as important to
know what our own British natural heritage, and that of the world
involves.
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