Taxon Selection

Three taxonomic / ecological groups were chosen to include in the Inventory based on their ecological and economic import, products to be developed, taxonomic expertise in Costa Rica, and established international cooperation.

The chosen groups of fungi are:

Macrofungi (e.g., mushrooms and thier relatives, brachet fungi and coral fungi)

Microfungi that can be collected (e.g., cupfungi, pyrenomycetes on wood and leaves)

Lichenized fungi (i.e., lichens)

These three groups encompass much of the diversity of fungi and will present a great challenge for the Inventory. Priorities will have to be established for each group, as the numbers of specimens and species that will be encountered will be overwhelming. These priorities will likely change during the course of the Inventory as different bioprospecting partners and national and international collaborators become involved, and as product emphases change. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the sampling priorities are flexible so that the team can respond to these changing priorities. For this reason, selection of material for culturing, identifying, and further processing will be made by the curators and bioprospectors after the material arrives at INBio.