MIND.Funga – Monitoring and Inventorying Neotropical Diversity of Fungi

Program: Citizen Science

This Citizen Science Program began in 2020 and is the first CSP with fungi in Brazil. The first stage is being developed by Mahatma Titton in his Master’s project at PPGFAP/UFSC titled “Innovation in monitoring macrofungi in high-altitude ecosystems of Santa Catarina through a Citizen Science Program”, within the scope of the research project “MIND.Funga – from the research with threatened macrofungi from the cloud forests of Santa Catarina to the innovation in the identification of species (Public notice FAPESC/CNPq Nº04/2019 – Emerging groups support program – PRONEM)”.

In a scenario of unprecedented biodiversity loss in human history, there are too few scientists dedicated to knowing the enormous diversity of life. As we run against time, a more strategic approach is needed for obtaining enough data on lesser known taxa, especially on little explored and vulnerable regions. The participation of local collaborators in biodiversity studies has been increasingly getting a crucial element, being a way of both collecting data and raising awareness about biodiversity and its importance on the maintenance of life as we know it.

In the first stage, we selected and trained collaborators living in poorly explored areas, initially involving communities in the vicinities of cloud forests in Santa Catarina state. These volunteering citizens, through a smartphone application developed specifically for this purpose, provide photography records of fungi in their natural environment, as well as associated data (substrate, location, image date, etc.), including of those threatened with extinction and potentially threatened, which will allow a closer contact between people and fungi.

This data is extremely important to expand the recognition of native macrofungi species in the high-altitude environments of Santa Catarina state, with more precise information about the richness and distribution of species, and to substantiate a proper evaluation of species in a data deficient scenario, helping determine their conservation status.

For the next stage of the program, we intend to broaden the range of the project, including citizens from other regions of Brazil, allowing the innovation and linking in the recognition of macrofungi in the country.

Collaborators

Aline Espindola Loch
Amanda de Souza Rodrigues
Ana luiza Castelo Branco Figueiredo
André Filipe Norato Corso
Andrews Ernesto Mohr
Benito Sbruzzi
Carlos de Melo e Silva Neto
Carlos João Birckolz
Cleiton Geuster
Eliana dos Santos Alves
Fernando Vidal
Geórgia Figueiredo
Jader Oslim Caetano
Jeferson Witte
Jimmy Sadao Nikaido
José Luiz Leite Junior (Xila)
Leo Matei Baschirotto
Leonardo Fusinato
Lucilanno Alves Bessa
Maria Gilda Pimentel Esteves
Michel Tadeu Rodrigues
Miguel Angelo Biz
Moacir Moraes Pessoa
Mônica Teixeira
Nêmora Pauletti Prestes
Nilvana Nunes
Patrícia Eliza Val Martarello
Paulo Ricardo Pezzuto
Pedro Porcé
Roglio