Shelf fungi (Buglossoporus magnus)

Mohamed bin Zayed Species project number 182518687

Monitoring of very rare fungus species Buglossoporus magnus for conservation action in old growth lowland rainforests of Sarawak.

Buglossoporus magnus is a rare fungus species found in small population and restrict areas and is seriously threatened by deforestation, hydroelectric dams and roads in Sarawak. This species action plan is aimed at those who work with and care about nature conservation, including governmental and non-governmental organizations as well as politicians and mycologists.

The IUCN SSC Mushroom, Bracket and Puffball Specialist Group is very active in the process of assessing species globally and the results of the Red-list assessment of Buglossoporus magnus can be continued for a Malaysian recovery program and threatened tropical rainforest control. Monitoring of Buglossoporus magnus in Peninsular Malaysia's forests has been conducted and this preliminary work reported that this species is rarely found in Peninsular Malaysia (Corner 1984). Since the 1990s, mycologists from the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) have once again reported that this species has been found in only two locations during the expedition program and documenting that Buglossoporus magnus has only been found in old growth forests in lowland areas of Peninsular Malaysia suggesting that this fungus should be monitoring in others old growth lowland rainforests. Population trends are not clear, but old growth forests in lowland Malaysia have seriously declined because of deforestation and oil palm plantations.

The IUCN red list assessment listed it as categorized vulnerable (VU) (Hattori, 2017) and proposed that conservation action for this species be required. More intensive monitoring of Buglossoporus magnus will be conducted to know their population or distribution in other forest habitats in Sarawak. So far, it has not been reported from the surrounding areas in Borneo, Java, Sumatra, and other Southeast Asian countries (Hattori, 2014). Additionally, Sarawak is one of the old growth forests in lowland Malaysia has been seriously declined because of deforestation and oil palm plantations. Awareness of habitat loss and no record reported so far for Buglossoporus magnus in Sarawak will provide a new record that is very useful for fungal conservation action strategy, so that the policy of deforestation can be controlled and implemented in the future.

Therefore, the objectives of the study are: 

1) to monitor Buglossoporus magnus in Sarawak

2) to identify host of Buglossoporus magnus in National Parks

3) to recommend a new policy and conservation management strategy.

This project will provide additional information on conservation work for appropriate management needs to ensure the most effective conservation action of Buglossoporus magnus in Malaysia.