Cooperative project on fungal diversity linking ecosystem function in tropical monsoon areas of Asia

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The purpose of this project is better understandings of biodiversity of fungi linking ecosystem function in tropical monsoon areas of Asia and also promotion of the cooperative research on fungi in Asian countries. The fungal flora in monsoon areas is suspected to be very rich. However, the real situation of fungi has been unknown because of difficulties of collections and species identification. Fungi also play an important role in the natural eco-systems. The investigation of functional aspects of fungi is very important for nature conservation. Therefore, this cooperative project is planned under collaboration of researches working on fungi in several Asian countries. Field investigations were mainly carried out in three areas of Asia, central and southern areas of Taiwan, northern areas of Thailand, and northern areas of Malaysia. Climate conditions of these areas are quite different each other. About 40 Japanese researchers working on different fungal taxa participated in this pro … More ject, and carried out field investigations and examinations of fungi together with researchers of Asian countries. The outline of the research results is as follows : (1) Fungal specimens including various fungal taxa were collected in these research areas and were deposited in herbaria in countries of their origins and Japan as dry herbarium specimens. (2) Specimens were identified by morphological observations and molecular analyses. (3) Lists of fungi distributed in the research areas were prepared to clarify their diversities. (4) The role of fungi in eco-systems were discussed based on these results. (4) For comparative study fungal specimens collected from Asia and kept in herbaria in New Zealand and China were examined. (5) The results of the project were published in mycological journals such as "Mycoscience" with co-authorships among the concerned researchers in Japan and the countries of their origins. (6) A symposium and workshops concerned this project were held at Chiang Mai, Thailand in November, 2004. (7) The fungal diversity workshop was held at University Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia in November, 2005. Less