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

本项目旨在进一步了解亚洲热带季风区真菌生物多样性与生态系统功能的关系，促进亚洲各国真菌的合作研究。人们怀疑季风地区的真菌菌群非常丰富。然而，由于收集和物种鉴定的困难，真菌的真实情况一直不为人所知。真菌在自然生态系统中也扮演着重要的角色。真菌功能方面的研究对自然保护具有重要意义。因此，这个合作项目是在几个亚洲国家真菌研究的合作下计划的。实地调查主要在亚洲三个地区进行：台湾中南部地区、泰国北部地区和马来西亚北部地区。这些地区的气候条件各不相同。大约40名从事不同真菌分类的日本研究人员参加了该项目，并与亚洲国家的研究人员一起进行了真菌的实地调查和检验。研究成果概述如下：(1)在研究区收集到的真菌标本包括各种真菌分类群，并以干标本的形式保存在原产国和日本的植物标本室中。(2)通过形态学观察和分子分析对标本进行鉴定。(3)编制了研究区真菌分布目录，明确了其多样性。(4)在此基础上讨论了真菌在生态系统中的作用。(4)对来自亚洲、新西兰和中国植物标本馆的真菌标本进行了比较研究。(5)该项目的研究成果发表在《Mycoscience》等真菌学期刊上，由日本及其原籍国的相关研究人员共同撰写。(6) 2004年11月在泰国清迈举行了有关该项目的专题讨论会和讲习班。(7)真菌多样性研讨会于2005年11月在马来西亚槟城大学举行。少

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