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New IUCN Species Survival Commission Colombia Fungal Specialist Group

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2023

Viviana Motato-Vásquez Open the ORCID record for Viviana Motato-Vásquez [Opens in a new window] ,
Aida Marcela Vasco-Palacios Open the ORCID record for Aida Marcela Vasco-Palacios [Opens in a new window] ,
Catia Canteiro Open the ORCID record for Catia Canteiro [Opens in a new window]  and
Gregory M. Mueller Open the ORCID record for Gregory M. Mueller [Opens in a new window]
Viviana Motato-Vásquez*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biología, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia IUCN Species Survival Commission Fungal Conservation Committee IUCN Species Survival Commission Colombian Fungal Specialist Group
Aida Marcela Vasco-Palacios
Affiliation:
IUCN Species Survival Commission Fungal Conservation Committee IUCN Species Survival Commission Colombian Fungal Specialist Group Grupo de Microbiología Ambiental and grupo BIOMICRO, Escuela de Microbiología, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia
Catia Canteiro
Affiliation:
IUCN Species Survival Commission Fungal Conservation Committee Global Center for Species Survival, Indianapolis Zoo, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Gregory M. Mueller
Affiliation:
IUCN Species Survival Commission Fungal Conservation Committee Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, Illinois, USA
*
viviana.motato@correounivalle.edu.co
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Abstract

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Type
Conservation News
Information
Oryx , Volume 57 , Issue 6 , November 2023 , pp. 691
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC BY 4.0.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International

The IUCN Species Survival Commission Colombia Fungal Specialist Group was launched on 19 April 2023. This national group aims to secure the conservation, management and, where necessary, the recovery of Colombian funga by mobilizing technical and scientific expertise, building networks and partnerships, and raising awareness of the importance of fungi, their applications, and the benefits they bring to humanity, as well as the threats they currently face. This new Specialist Group comprises a diverse group of specialists who will act collectively for the conservation of fungi in Colombia, and facilitate evidence-based decision-making for preventing the extinction of species.

Colombia is home to 75,947 known species across the various Kingdoms and has two global biodiversity hotspots. With high rates of endemism, the country is a priority region for global biodiversity conservation, and it faces diverse anthropogenic transformations, including habitat fragmentation, loss and degradation, overexploitation, invasive species, pollution and climate change.

Although there has been an increase in the efforts of the Colombian mycological community to highlight the importance of fungal conservation, there is still a long way to go to ensure that fungi are included in conservation plans and actions. So far, 7,241 species of fungi have been reported for the country, but only 27 species have been assessed for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. There is still no official national Red List assessment for fungi in Colombia, and there are no records of threatened species in the Colombian government's Conservation Action Plan.

The Colombia Fungal Specialist Group seeks to promote actions such as holding IUCN workshops to assess the extinction risk of species, training specialists in the application of the criteria and categories, and disseminating the importance of fungal conservation in Colombia. We invite researchers, students, communities, stakeholders and practitioners to contact us with questions, requests for support or ideas for new collaborations.