#Pernambuco Holly | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

endlingmusings · 1 year ago

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[ A blossoming Pernambuco Holly photographed by Fred Jordão. ]

"When we think of finding species lost to science for decades, even centuries at a time, we often think of mysterious, hidden creatures both big and small, on the move. What comes to mind are roaming, buzzing, slithering question marks within their ecological landscapes, evading researchers until finally being rediscovered in remote corners of the world. But what about the species that don’t move? What about the lost species found right under our noses, growing silently as the world changes around them? Such is the case for the Pernambuco Holly (Ilex sapiiformis), a small, inconspicuous holly tree endemic to the northeastern state of Pernambuco, Brazil and one of Re:wild’s top 25 most wanted lost species by the Search for Lost Species. For almost two centuries, 186 years to be exact, the tree eluded botanists and conservationists. That is, until March of this year, when the expedition efforts of a small team of persistent botanists and ecologists paid off, leading to the rediscovery of the illusive Ilex sapiiformis in Igarassu, a city in Pernambuco’s metropolitan municipality of Recife. While the tree’s rediscovery rules out extinction, the conservation of the Pernambuco Holly has only just begun. Today, the expedition team, led by ecologist Gustavo Martinelli, is mapping out the next steps for bringing the Pernambuco Holly back from its current precarious status as Critically Endangered."

- Excerpt from "Lost and now found, the fight to bring the Pernambuco Holly back from the brink of extinction is only just beginning" by Laura Moreno.

#Pernambuco Holly #Conservation #Plant #CR #Article #Text #Photo #Live specimen #Upload

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reasonsforhope · 2 months ago

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"The first and only fungus on a global conservation outfit’s ’25 Most Wanted List’ has been found in the rain-soaked mountains of Chile, almost 40 years after it was first documented.

The big puma fungus is actually quite small, and despite being on the ’25 Most Wanted List’ it’s also rather unremarkable, being slightly greyish brown, and no bigger than a shitake.

GNN is always abreast of updates to the brilliant conservation initiative Search for Lost Species which has rediscovered several wondrous species of plants and animals through collaborative scientific expeditions to look for forms of life not seen in over ten years.

The big puma fungus (Austroomphaliaster nahuelbutensis), an enigmatic species of fungi that lives underground in Chile’s Nahuelbuta Mountains had only ever been found in the wild once.

An expedition team from the Fungi Foundation in Chile set out for the temperate forests of the Nahuelbutas in May 2023 to retrace the footsteps of Chilean mycologist Norberto Garrido, who discovered the big puma fungus and described it to Western science in 1988.

They timed the expedition to coincide with the exact dates in May that Garrido had hiked the mountains more than 40 years earlier.

“It’s possible that the reproductive parts of the big puma fungus—the mushroom—are only fleetingly visible above the soil on the same few days each year, which made the timing of the expedition a crucial factor,” said Claudia Bustamante, a mycologist, and member of the expedition team.

The expedition was captured in a documentary called In Search of a Lost Fungus, in which viewers can see how a last-minute day hike organized near a local Nahuelbutas community led to the big puma fungus’ eventual discovery.

On the last day of the expedition, the Fungi Foundation led a workshop and a community hike to look for fungi in a nearby forest. During that hike, two of the local participants found a group of about four mushrooms that all matched the description of the big puma fungus.

The expedition team carefully collected the mushrooms, leaving the mycelium in the ground, and took the mushrooms to the Fungi Foundation’s fungarium (FFCL). Although the mushrooms matched the physical and microscopical description of the big puma fungus, it was a DNA analysis that eventually confirmed the team had found the correct species.

“We knew it was going to be hard to find the big puma fungus and that the chances of finding the mushrooms were low, considering their colors and how they blend with the fallen leaves,” said Daniela Torres, programs lead at the Fungi Foundation and leader of the expedition.

“It was truly a unique moment when we managed to be in the right place at the right time to see the mushrooms. Understanding the biodiversity that exists and interacts within a specific area helps us comprehend its behavior and its potential to adapt to ongoing changes and underlying threats.”

Since 2017, the Search for Lost Species has rediscovered 13 of the world’s most wanted lost species. In addition to the big puma fungus, Re:wild, working with partners across the world, has confirmed the rediscovery of Jackson’s climbing salamander in Guatemala, both Wallace’s giant bee and the velvet pitcher plant in Indonesia, the silver-backed chevrotain in Vietnam, the Somali sengi in Djibouti, the Voeltzkow’s chameleon in Madagascar, Fernandina giant tortoise in the Galápagos, Sierra Leone crab in Sierra Leone, the Pernambuco holly tree in Brazil, Attenborough’s echidna in Indonesia, De Winton’s golden mole in South Africa and Fagilde’s trapdoor spider in Portugal."

-via Good News Network, September 13, 2024

#fungus #mushrooms #biodiversity #endangered species #chile #fungi #wild fungi #good news #hope

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wachinyeya · 2 months ago

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Mushroom Enthusiasts Help Find Species Lost to Science–Rescuing it from Nature’s ‘Top 25 Most Wanted’ List https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/mushroom-enthusiasts-help-find-species-lost-to-science-rescuing-it-from-natures-top-25-most-wanted-list/