Species Conservation through Permaculture (French)

Mushroom Lovers; Ease off on the Commons!

Dear mushroom lovers!

As the winter breath chills the air and days get shorter, we all get excited about the mushroom season, when it's possible to go out to hunt for those delicious fungi growing in the wild! There's nothing like filling your basket with chanterelles, porcini, and morels or shiitake, bringing them home to cook a mouthwatering nutritious meal.

But before grabbing your knife and basket and heading to the woods, I'd like to ask you a favour. Please, be mindful of how much you collect and where you forage. Excessive foraging - also known as hoarding wild mushrooms, can have detrimental impacts on the environment and the wildlife that depend on mushrooms for their survival. Needless to say, it has a negative impact on your future resources as well.

Here are some reasons why you should ease off on foraging edible mushrooms, avoiding:

- decreasing spore dissemination: Many foragers assume that if mushrooms cannot be uprooted (because they have no roots - which is true) then picking them from the wild doesn't affect their population. When you remove a mushroom from the wild, however, you prevent it from releasing its spores. Spores are the reproductive units of fungi. Spores are carried by the wind or by animals to new locations, where they can germinate and form new mycelium and mushrooms. By picking too many mushrooms, you decrease the chances of spore dissemination and colonization of new habitats [1]. When wild animals eat mushrooms, they return the spores back to the soil, when humans eat mushrooms, the spores end up in the sewage; 

- critically reducing food for wild species: Mushrooms are an important source of food for many animals, especially in winter when alternative resources get scarce. Squirrels hide them during the season for winter time when other food sources are scarce; deer, rabbits, birds,  mice, insects, and many others rely on mushrooms for their nutrition and energy. By overharvesting mushrooms, you may deprive these animals of their food and affect their chances for survival and reproduction;

- treading the soil: When you walk around the forest looking for mushrooms, you may unintentionally damage the soil and the mycelium that lies beneath it. Mycelium is the network of fungal threads that connects the mushrooms and helps them absorb nutrients and water from the soil to feed themselves and their plant symbionts (trees, bushes, wildflowers, wild plants, etc). By treading the soil, the mycelium might break or get compacted, reducing its ability to function and produce more mushrooms in the future. So, tread carefully!

- Finally, consider your fellow forayers (mushroom study/appreciation groups): Observation of wildlife, including mushrooms, is important for our mindfulness and well-being. You are clever enough to diversify your diet but other species are restricted in terms of the quality and quantity of food they can get, and once a species loses its battle for survival, it's lost forever. Leave a portion for nature dwellers to enjoy and appreciate such precious beings too. The beauty of natural ecosystems is a gift not to brush away lightly.

So, what can we do to be responsible foragers:

Here are some quick tips (with a note to self):

- Forage only for personal use and take just as much as you can consume in a reasonable time.

- Avoid nature-conservation sites where foraging may be prohibited or restricted. It's probably been restricted for good reasons.

- Forage only with knowledge and identification skills. Don't pick mushrooms that you're not sure about or that may be endangered (let alone poisonous). Use reliable guides or experts to help you.

- Tread with care and respect. Don't damage or disturb the soil, the mycelium, or the plants around the mushrooms. 

- Use a basket or mesh carrier bag to collect your mushrooms, allowing some spores to escape and spread as you walk. Leave a reasonable portion of the mushrooms behind for other foragers, forayers, animals, and future generations.

By following these tips, you can enjoy foraging mushrooms in their season without damaging their populations or harming the environment or wildlife. You can also help preserve the diversity and abundance of fungi in our forests and contribute to their conservation.

Happy mushroom hunting!

Some references:

1.Laetiporus sulphureus. [Descriptions of Fungi and Bacteria].

D. W. Minter, G.S Soliman ( 2022), Description of Fungi and Bacteria, No. 231 pp. 2297

3.Inonotus obliquus. [Descriptions of Fungi and Bacteria].

D. W. Minter, G.S Soliman ( 2022), Description of Fungi and Bacteria, No. 231 pp. 2296

Quinoa-associated fungi and bacteria in Bolivia: conservation and sustainable use

Quinoa-associated fungi and bacteria in Bolivia: conservation and sustainable use

Quinoa seeds are rich in protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins, amino acids, and dietary minerals in amounts greater than in many grains.

The spread of production of quinoa may involve farming into ecologically fragile ecosystems, threatening both the sustainability of producer agriculture and the biodiversity of quinoa. Working with several partners on this project aiming at healthier ecosystems, sustainable cultivation, and resilient communities. 

Stay tuned!

Conservation Issues in the Middle East

2018-2019 Winter Programme

Open Innovation in Life Science - Closing the Loop

 Peer-reviewed

 

The first decade of the 21th century has been noted to witness a decline in the pharmaceutical innovation (Kaitin and DiMasi, 2011), with some recent signs of revival (Ward, 2014). According to the Centre for Medicines Research International in the USA, the average success rate of bringing a new drug to the market has declined, since the mid-nineties. Failure occurs predominantly in the later phases of clinical testing, which makes them even more expensive. The business witnessed only 24 new-drug approvals by the United States Food and Drug Administration during 1998 with a $27 billion Research and Development (R&D) cost. However, the industry in 2006 spent $64 billion, for only 13 new drugs, making it to the market (Kaitin and DiMasi, 2011). Some have proposed that the traditional linear model of bioinnovation, is no longer viable, concluding the need for a "fully integrated pharmaceutical networks," (FIPNets/FIPCO) or simply an "ecosystem". In this essay I explore reasons and practicalities of turning to Open Innovation. I also argue a potential enhancement in the quality of input into the earlier phases of drug production, with fungal conservation and bioprospecting as a case in point.

Download the paper

 

 

 

 

Cybernetics and Fungal Conservation

Published in the Third International Congress for Fungal Conservation, 

Turkey from 11-15 November 2013

                      (Book of abstracts, Page 48) 

Cybernetics and fungal conservation:
an interdisciplinary approach to management of fungal conservation
using desert truffles as an example [64]

Soliman, G.S.

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''Human evolution cannot be understood as a purely biological process, nor can it be adequately described as a history of culture. It is the interaction of biology and culture. There exists a feedback between biological and cultural processes.''( Wilson, E.O) As fungal conservation is 'a mixture of science and politics'; orchestrating a positive attitude to it involves a sort of partnership between the biological and social sciences. Managing this complex process involves cybernetics.

Cybernetics deals with communication in complex systems. It has been described as “the art of steersmanship” or “the art of creating equilibrium in a world of constraints and possibilities” and is applicable when a system is in a closed signalling loop; that is, where action by the system generates some change in its environment and that change is reflected in some manner that triggers a system change. In fungal conservation, a cybernetically controlled environment entails creating an input which triggers a positive attitude towards fungal conservation and generates a feedback which develops fungal conservation itself in a ‘closed signalling loop’.
Conservation of desert truffles is a case in point. In southwest Asia and northern Africa there are cultural traditions which go back to ancient times. In many parts of these regions, fruit bodies of these fungi are still described as “manna”, a word meaning “the gift of God” which has been used in this sense for thousands of years, back to what was arguably the first recorded act of fungal conservation (Exodus 16: 32). Desert truffles are mentioned in the religious texts of Christianity, Islam and Judaism alike, and are universally favourably regarded in these writings, as food and for their medicinal value. In addition to the religious traditions, these fungi are widely used in the region as aphrodisiacs.
Such cultural value might be expected to generate a tradition to conserve these fungi, but because they are regarded as ‘miraculous’, there is a deeply subliminal view that they are protected by God: “it's a free gift; no work is required to enjoy it and no protection either”. This simultaneously encourages over-exploitation and a laissez-faire attitude to their conservation, exacerbated by land-ownership issues and a feeling that information about the location of desert truffles, as such a precious gift from God, should be concealed: gatherers in Egypt have been described as 'downright secretive'. These deeply-rooted traditions hinder research on the fungi. Moreover, scientific knowledge may get distorted when communicated to the public by non-specialists: examples of this can be found among YouTube videos of clerics preaching on this subject. A lot of co-ordination, correlation, communication, and organization are thus required to enable the prominent cultural value of desert truffles to be used for conservation.

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