Fungi are considered to be in urgent need of conservation by the British Mycological Society on the grounds that it is a traditionally neglected taxon which has legal protection in few countries. Current threats to fungi include destruction of forests worldwide, habitat fragmentation, changes in land use, pollution, anthropogenic climate change, and over-exploitation of commercially attractive species. Fungi population status has never been recorded until 2018 by the Royal Botanic Gardens.[1] These surveys relay species information, threats, and current protective policies. Expertise of 210 contributors from 97 institutions in 42 countries contributes to these reports.[1]
The Species Survival Commission of the IUCN has five specialist groups dealing with the conservation of fungi.
These groups are overseen by Cátia Canteiro, a plant and fungi specialist at the Indianapolis Zoo’s Global Center for Species Survival (GCSS). Under her leadership, these groups are focusing on Red Listing fungi species in order to build the foundation for conservation efforts.
Lack of knowledge is considered a major concern with a general paucity of comprehensive checklists, even for developed nations. In addition, the criteria for "red-listing" is not specifically designed for fungi and the kinds of data required, viz. population size, lifespan, spatial distribution and population dynamics are poorly known for most fungi. As a result, in practice, indicator species are identified as target foci for the conservation of threatened fungi. The term conservation mycology was coined in a 2018 publication.[2]
May et al. 2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).