Edible ectomycorrhizal mushrooms (EEMMs) comprise more than 1000 species and are an important food and forest resource. In this volume of Soil Biology, internationally recognized scientists offer their most recent research findings on these beguiling fungi. Topics covered include: complex ecological interactions between plants, EEMMs, and soil organisms; comparative genomics, high-throughput sequencing and modern research tools; genetic selection of fungal strains and techniques for inoculating plants; economic and social considerations surrounding wild collected EEMMs; and practical information concerning soil management and EEMM cultivation. The book will be a useful guide for anyone interested in soil ecology, forestry, or the genetics and cultivation of EEMMs, and provides an extensive knowledge base and inspirations for future studies on these ecologically and economically important fungi.
This book focuses on recent advances in our understanding of wild edible mycorrhizal fungi, truffle and mushrooms and their cultivation. In addition to providing fresh insights into various topics, e.g. taxonomy, ecology, cultivation and environmental impact, it also demonstrates the clear but fragile link between wild edible mushrooms and human societies. Comprising 17 chapters written by 41 experts from 13 countries on four continents, it enables readers to grasp the importance of protecting this unique, invaluable, renewable resource in the context of climate change and unprecedented biodiversity loss. The book inspires professionals and encourages young researchers to enter this field to develop the sustainable use of wild edible mushrooms using modern tools and approaches. It also highlights the importance of protecting forested environments, saving species from extinction and generating a significant income for local populations, while keeping alive and renewing the link between humans and wild edible mushrooms so that in the future, the sustainable farming and use of edible mycorrhizal mushrooms will play a predominant role in the management and preservation of forested lands.
Biodiversity is the sum total of a country's plant, animal, microbial resources and the raw ecological systems that they form and occupy. It is an important raw material for national economic activities; and its conservation depends on how human activities are carried out and how resources such as land, water and forests are allocated and managed. The Rio Summit in 1992 underscored the importance of biodiversity, and Tanzania has ratified the International Convention on the Conservation of Biological Diversity. This study identifies and analyses some of the implications of specific diversity objections in relation to sectoral programmes and interests in forest and agriculture, industry, and tourism in coastal Tanzania.
Ectomycorrhizal fungi play multifunctional roles during symbioses with higher plants. They can serve as bioprotectors, biofertilizers, bioremediators and stress indicators. Further, they are the true “mycoindicators” of forest ecosystems, where an enormous diversity of ectomycorrhizal fungi can be found. Some ectomycorrhizal fungi also produce edible sporocarps, i.e., fruiting bodies, which are important for the food industry. Ectomycorrhizal fungi also produce various metal chelating molecules, which are of remarkable biotechnological significance and which also secrete useful secondary metabolites. Molecular approaches are required for the identification and differentiation of fungi forming symbioses with higher plants, while molecular tools are important to understand how genes are expressed during symbiosis with higher plants. Students, researchers and teachers of botany, mycology, microbiology, forestry, and biotechnology will find a valuable source of information in this Soil Biology volume.
Wild Plants, Mushrooms and Nuts: Functional Properties and Food Applications is a compendium of current and novel research on the chemistry, biochemistry, nutritional and pharmaceutical value of traditional food products, namely wild mushrooms, plants and nuts, which are becoming more relevant in diets, and are especially useful for developing novel health foods and in modern natural food therapies. Topics covered will range from their nutritional value, chemical and biochemical characterization, to their multifunctional applications as food with beneficial effects on health, though their biological and pharmacological properties (antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, antitumor capacity, among others).
In the Miombo ecoregion (2,865,000 km² or 9.1% of Africa), the Zambezian open forest constitutes the main vegetation unit. It extends to no less than eight countries, from Burundi in the North to South Africa in the South, and from Angola in the West to Mozambique in the East. The austral part of Africa's open forests falls within the Zambezian Regional Center of Endemism outlined by White in 1983. This book focuses mainly on the wetter Zambezian Miombo woodlands. Also patches of mosaic Zambezian dry evergreen forests and small areas of grasslands on Kalahari sands are incorporated in the study. The aim of this book is to gather together the amazing local environment knowledge of Zambezian open forests peoples in order to permit an easier improvement of their well-being. This research has been developed in an ethnoecological way of thinking. Indeed, the synergy arising from putting together local knowledge and updated ecological research provides huge information on ecosystem management, including biodiversity aspects. Ethnoecology is an emergent field that focuses on local peoples' perception and management of complex and co-evolved relationships between the cultural, ecological, and economic components of anthropogenic and natural ecosystems. In the present book, the Zambezian wild edible products are treated according to fourteen items (from fungi, plants and honey, to beverages and salt, through mammals, birds, fish, insects and other animals). Some other comments concern agriculture and ethnoecology. All together more than a thousand edible products are involved; their ecology, their phenology, as well as their nutritional values are presented and discussed. The iconography is supported by a CD with 387 color photographs. The earlier French version of 1997 has been reviewed and enlarged, taking into account recent progress of knowledge. An important bibliography is presented.
Nitrogen is the most important nutrient in agricultural practice because the availability of nitrogen from the soil is generally not enough to support crop yields. To maintain soil fertility, the application of organic matters and crop rotation have been practiced. Farmers can use convenient chemical nitrogen fertilizers to obtain high crop yields. However, the inappropriate use of nitrogen fertilizers causes environmental problems such as nitrate leaching, contamination in groundwater, and the emission of N2O gas. This book is divided into the following four sections: “Ecology and Environmental Aspects of Nitrogen in Agriculture”, “Nitrogen Fertilizers and Nitrogen Management in Agriculture”, “N Utilization and Metabolism in Crops”, “Plant-Microbe Interactions”.
In order to feed the world, global agriculture will have to double food production by 2050. As a result, the use of soils with fertilizers and pesticides in agronomic ecosystems will increase, taking into account the sustainability of these systems and also the provision of food security. Thus, soil ecosystems, their health, and their quality are directly involved in sustainable agronomical practices, and it is important to recognize the important role of soil microbial communities such as mycorrhizal fungi, their biodiversity, interactions, and functioning. Soil ecosystems are under the threat of biodiversity loss due to an increase of cultivated areas and agronomic exploitation intensity. Also, changes in land use alter the structure and function of ecosystems where biodiversity is vital in the ecosystem. Soils are a major aid in food production in all terrestrial ecosystems; however, this means they are also involved in gas emission and global warming. Thus, in agronomic ecosystems, several mitigation practices have been proposed to promote the increase of carbon soil stock, and the reduction of warming gas emission from soils. In South America, most of the rural population depends economically on agriculture and usually works in family units. New, organic, safe, and sustainable agro-forestry practices must be applied to support local communities and countries to achieve hunger eradication, rural poverty reduction, and sustainable development. This book compiles new information for mycorrhizal occurrence in natural and anthropic environments in South America. It includes new reports of mycorrhizal fungi diversity along different mycorrhizal types and their effect on plant communities, plant invasions, the use of mycorrhizal fungi for ecological and sustainable studies, management programs of natural and agroecosystems, and forestry and food-secure production. This book fills the gaps in biodiversity knowledge, management and safe food production of mycorrhizas. It should be a valuable help to researchers, professors and students, to aid in use of mycorrhizal fungi while also focusing on their biodiversity, sustainable safe food production, and conservation perspectives.
