Matt Wainhouse

How lichen hold the secret to a breath of fresh air An app uses lichen to help monitor air quality in places like the New Forest.

😍 Great to see some lichen love from April Windle of the @britishlichensociety.org.uk, plus our own Bill Bealey explaining how our LicheN app is used for measuring sensitivity to nitrogen pollution

Featured on BBC News ⤵️

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... 🧪

Front covers of the four BMS journals

Publishing, reading and reviewing papers in BMS #journals helps support and promote fungal biology #research, #education, recording and #conservation. Find out how to access the journals, or how to submit your #mycology research or field studies here: www.britmycolsoc.org.uk/publications...

🚨NEW WEBINAR🚨

Join this webinar in celebration of the @reversethered.bsky.social day.

@iucnaquafungi.bsky.social member @huzefaraj.bsky.social will present about a newly identified genus of freshwater ascomycete fungus.

Other 2 exciting talks lined up.

Registration: tinyurl.com/yja95rmv

It would also be really interesting to look at species assemblages in overlapping vs not overlapping climatic areas to indicate whether different species are responding to different factors. is there a plan to do this?

Great - that would be super useful. on the WT map the Lost Rainforest area seems to show the max area based on the different climatic measures rather than the minima. Woodland type is a spectrum, so feels like the latter is most important for planning temperate rainforest.

it would be interesting and useful too see a figure/map showing where these areas are. Has one been produced?

Placards about protecting fungi

Great #biodiversity messages in packed meeting: don't forget the funga!
#FungalConservationPledge

Fungal Conservation in Europe: Evidence to Action We are delighted to invite you to the upcoming meeting: Fungal Conservation in Europe: Evidence to Action which will take place in Uppsala, Sweden 14-17 April 2026.

Are you a researcher translating fungal science into real conservation action?

📣 Call for abstracts now open
📍14–17 April 2026 in Uppsala, Sweden
🔗 Apply: www.slu.se/en/fce2026/
⏰ Deadline: 25 Feb 2026

This incredibly cool new research shows that the first really big large organism on land was not a giant fungus, as many gave hypothesized. It was so chemically different from fungi that the authors propose "this enigmatic organism is best assigned to an entirely extinct eukaryotic lineage."

New ms on BioRxiv by Ronold et al: Long-term shift in community composition of deadwood fungi after clear-cutting
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Biodiversity collapse threatens UK security, intelligence chiefs warn Ecosystem destruction will increase food shortages, disorder and mass migration, with effects already being felt

Biodiversity collapse threatens UK security, intelligence chiefs warn

Ecosystem destruction will increase food shortages, disorder and mass migration, with effects already being felt

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/696e0e...

In this review in Fungal Ecology, Håvard Kauserud (@drhyfe.bsky.social) argues that while the ITS region is by far the best DNA (meta)barcoding marker for fungi, we should not use it naively or simplistically doi.org/10.1016/j.fu...

Don't miss this chance to learn about Joint Species Distribution Modeling from Dr. Otso Ovaskainen!

🟠 foundations of JSDM
🟠 applications to fungal ecology
🟠 demo in R
🟠 questions

Brought to you by #GEOBON and #MoSTFun ( #BiodivMon #Biodiversa+)

@mostfun.bsky.social
@geobon.org
@biodiversa.eu

we looked at the lichen irecord data for the red list - i think it was 90% Xp!

New paper! Here we present the history, geographical distribution, and structure of organizations in #mycology across #Europe, as well as their activities—including journals, magazines, meetings, educational initiatives, and #citizenscience projects. doi.org/10.1007/s105... #FunDive

Lichens on Trees Have you ever taken a closer look at the wide range of lichens that grow on the trunks, branches and twigs of trees, and wanted to learn more about what these lichens actually are and why they have…

Want to learn more about lichens in 2026 (and why wouldn't you??) Scottish Lichens are running a series of distance learning courses. The first is lichens on trees

Thanks! yes seen this, but no time to write anything up 😔 I'll just look forward to reading it instead

Our @bes-cascade.bsky.social survey of ecologists asked which socio-political changes might be most effective in the biodiversity & climate crises

Broad-scale transformative changes were most selected

Biodiversity or carbon credits, use of AI, & de-extinction were each selected in <1% of responses

Environment Act Habitat Target – Definitions and Descriptions - TIN219 The long-term legally binding Environment Act habitat target is to restore or create more than 500,000 hectares of a range of wildlife-rich habitats outside of protected sites by 31st December 2042. T...

Correction - 'wildlife-rich habitat' is in the EIP glossary and refers to Table 2 in this doc: publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/...

Essentially priority habitats with some extras

Still overlooked. Fungi were namechecked in the Species Recovery section of the EIP25. and Lichen and Boletes are at least on the oficial Extinction Risk Index. There are a handful of Priority species

These are just habitat classifications and they do not specify which are 'wildlife-rich'. To the best of my knowledge W-R has not been defined in the context of the Env. Act or EIP25. So what counts? Should 'wildlife' mean animals, or plants and fungi, soil too? e.g. CHEGD grasslands ?

Group of grey-brown mushrooms on a green background. Credit: Trish Bloodworth, Runner up in 2026 UK Fungus Day photography competition.

Our 2026 field mycology events include a workshop for beginners to build knowledge & develop skills, and practical field meetings for those more experienced in fungus recording.
Find all BMS events here: www.britmycolsoc.org.uk/events.html

i dont actually think there is even a definition of 'wildlife-rich habitat'. If you find out what it means, please let me know

A collage of 5 photos from different BMS events.

Job opportunity with the BMS: Events Officer. Part-time, flexible hours, home based. Covering conferences, training workshops, field meetings & outreach events. Working closely with staff & volunteers. Deadline: Friday 12 December 2025
Details: www.britmycolsoc.org.uk/vacancies.html

👩‍🔬PhD
Disentangling the contribution of above and belowground inputs for soil carbon storage
Application closing date: 3rd December
Start date: September 2026
Competition funded though BBSRC SWBio DTP (CASE project so good chance of being funded...)

👩‍🔬PhD
Quantifying the impact of contrasting forest creation approaches on soil carbon stock accumulation
Application closing date: 9th January
Start date: April/May 2026
Funding: guaranteed through the RECONNECT project

👩‍🔬 Postdoc in molecular ecology (3 years)
Determining reforestation effects on mycorrhizal connectivity
Application closing date: 21st December
Start date: April/May 2026

Reconnecting underground networks to maximise the flow and storage of carbon in forest soils | RECONNECT | Project | Fact Sheet | HORIZON | CORDIS | European Commission In order to maximise the potential for habitat restoration initiatives to mitigate our grandest environmental challenges, we urgently need to understand how differing approaches to forest creation aff...

📣Exciting mycorrhizal fungi Postdoc and PhDs on the RECONNECT project with my buddy Hannah Griffith at Bristol University

cordis.europa.eu/project/id/1...

Fungus Recorder Online Survey | Keiron Derek Brown Do you record fungi? If so, please fill in our short Fungus Recorder Online Survey (closes on 30th November). The survey is open nationwide and invites everyone involved in fungi recording to share t...

Do you record fungi? If so, please fill in this short Fungus Recorder Online Survey (closes on 30th November)...

www.linkedin.com/posts/keiron...