British Columbia Ectomycorrhizal Research Network
The British Columbia Ectomycorrhizal Research Network (BCERN) brings together sections of the complete Manual of Concise Descriptions of North American Ectomycorrhizae (CDNAE); the Ectomycorrhizae Descriptions Database (EDD); Photoprofiles of Ectomycorrhizae (POE), the Matchmaker for Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest (MMPNW) database, and links to other sites.
Manual of Concise Descriptions of North American Ectomycorrhizae (CDNAE) - This manual is intended to provide a primarily North American audience of ecologically oriented researchers with illustrated descriptions, including DNA characterization, of ectomycorrhizae (EM) identified to plant and fungus species. Ectomycorrhizae fungal species that have been described elsewhere are included, though preference and emphasis is on previously undescribed ectomycorrhizae. The print version of the manual was published between 1996 to 2008 as a series of 8 folios which were sent to those who initially or subsequently purchased the manual. The online PDF version of the manual published in 2024 contains all 39 descriptions of ectomycorrhizae, 20 of which were previously only available in the printed manual.
Ectomycorrhizae Descriptions Database (EDD) - EDD is a database of ectomycorrhizae morphological descriptions that includes a search tool which allows users to browse or search the database. It has been developed with the purpose of bringing together as many published and unpublished descriptions as possible to serve as a comprehensive tool for identification of ectomycorrhizae in British Columbia and Pacific Northwest. It contains data for 557 descriptions in total, 357 published descriptions, 318 from Determination of Ectomycorrhizae (DEEMY) and 39 from a Manual of Concise Descriptions of North American Ectomycorrhizae (CDNAE) as well as data from 200 unpublished brief descriptions from Photoprofiles of Ectomycorrhizae (POE). The EDD can be searched either by browsing a catalog of EM types in the database or by a synoptic search of key features and characters. Entry of search profiles is done using a web form with all the characters in the CDNAE checklist, and links to the CDNAE illustrated glossary. The catalog and search results page also provides links to images in either CDE or POE, to GenBank for those EM types described in CDNAE or POE with accessioned DNA sequence data, to the DAVFP herbarium for accessioned EM specimens, and to the Matchmaker for Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest database if a mushroom description of a fungal species in EDD also occurs there. EDD is a replacement to a previous Database of Descriptions of Ectomycorrhizae (DDE) first published online in 2000, revised in 2008, and updated in 2024.
Photoprofiles of Ectomycorrhizae (POE) - This directory contains brief two-page descriptions, photos, and in most cases DNA sequence data, for about 200 ectomycorrhizal types for EM fungal species that have been unpublished elsewhere to date, are for fungal species on different host species, or are for EM types for as yet unknown fungal species. These represent collections from ecological studies on EM fungi primarily in British Columbia. These descriptions are less complete than the concise descriptions published in CDNAE. The web page provides a list of all photoprofiles available, and these can be viewed online or downloaded as PDF files. Data from the photoprofiles have been entered into EDD and can be included in the synoptic search.
Matchmaker for Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest (MMPNW) - This aid to identifying mushrooms, has over 2000 gilled mushrooms of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia included in a database. The original Windows version of the MMPNW program, developed by Ian and Eli Gibson, included gilled mushroom descriptions and photos of gilled and non-gilled mushrooms, as well as a search tool for matching mushroom characteristics. A web version of MMPNW was created by the Canadian Forest Service in 2001 with suggestions from Ian and Eli Gibson. The web version, last updated in 2008 to the Windows MMPNW version 1.3, was removed from the BCERN web site in 2023 because of legacy software issues. Although the web version of online search tool has been discontinued, the EDD catalogue and links from it to the MMPNW database remain functional. Gibson continued to enhance the Windows version of MatchMaker (version 2.4), now called MycoMatch, and can be downloaded from the MycoMatch web site.
Links
Project status
- On-going