Improved Understanding of the Macrofungal Diversity of Mongolia: Species Richness, Conservation Status, and An Annotated Checklist

Nyamsuren Kherlenchimeg; Ganbaatar Burenbaatar; Shukherdorj Baasanmunkh; Zagarjav Tsegmed; Magsar Urgamal; Tolgor Bau; Sang-Kuk Han; Seung-Yoon Oh; Hyeok Jae Choi

doi:10.1080/12298093.2023.2297485

Improved Understanding of the Macrofungal Diversity of Mongolia: Species Richness, Conservation Status, and An Annotated Checklist

Mycobiology. 2024 Jan 13;52(1):13-29. doi: 10.1080/12298093.2023.2297485. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Plant Taxonomy and Phylogenetic of Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
² Key Laboratory of Edible Fungal Resources and Utilization (North), Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, China.
³ School of Animal Science & Biotechnology, Mongolian University of Life Sciences, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
⁴ Department of Biology and Chemistry, Changwon National University, Changwon, South Korea.
⁵ Division of Forest Biodiversity, Korea National Arboretum, Pocheon, South Korea.

Abstract

In this study, we updated and revised the checklist of macrofungi, along with the distribution of phytogeographical regions and the regional conservation status in Mongolia. The checklist comprises 677 macrofungal species belonging to 284 genera and 119 families in the country. Based on previous studies, 18 species are currently invasive to Mongolia. In this checklist, only four species are endemic to Mongolia. Among the 677 species, the regional conservation status of 51 species was previously assessed as threatened in the country. Furthermore, we collected all available occurrence records from various sources. A total of 4733 occurrences of 655 species across Mongolia were analyzed for species richness based on a 0.5° × 0.5° grid cell size. We found the records to be unevenly distributed across Mongolia, where records from the northern and central parts dominate. Among these, we identified 43 grids with a high diversity of macrofungal species. Most of these grids did not reside inside by protected geographical areas.

Keywords: Checklist; conservation; fungi; hotspots; occurrence record; species richness.

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Korea National Arboretum (Grant Number: KNA1-2-42, 22-2) and Korea Basic Science Institute (National Research Facilities and Equipment Center) grant funded by the Ministry of Education (Grant No. 2023R1A6C101B022).