The ‘Environment’ is now on political agendas, and it is time the mycological voice was heard in the upsurge of national and international debates that have followed in the wake of the 1992 Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro. Despite worldwide concern over environmental changes, fungi vital to the functioning of ecosystems are rarely mentioned.

This is the first symposium volume to focus on fungi in relation to man-made changes in the natural environment. It comprises papers presented at a British Mycological Society Symposium held at Cranfield University, UK, in 1994. The authors, all actively engaged in mycological research, cover widely diverse but highly topical subjects such as global warming, rising sea levels and destruction of rainforests. Speculation is bound to be found, but experimental evidence has been included wherever possible. Selection will also be apparent. The number of mycologists in this field is not great and many environmental problems remain untouched. Our aim is to stimulate thought on some of the issues of the day, and to point to the need for more research at every level, from field recording to cell physiology.

In Chapter 1 Lonsdale and Gibbs discuss predicted changes in global climate in relation to associations between fungal pathogens and perennial, woody hosts, and the extent to which the geographic range and pathogenic activity of the fungus (they do not always coincide) might alter.