0 - Mycological Society of America

definitive strategies to compete with ecologists, plant pathologists, plant physiologists and
others. I w ill list six strategies which I believe mycologists can use to further the study
of mycorrhizal fungi and to further the field of mycology in general.
The first, and an area which mycologists are presently opening up, is the need to under-
stand the effects of differing fungal taxa on the host plant. We know that there is no single
"mycorrhizal response. " Different mycorrhi zal fungi differ in their environmental require-
ments, response to perturbation, and effects on the host plant. Some associations may shift
to detrimental responses to the host under different conditions. By understanding the tax-
onomy of mycorrhizal fungi and the niches of each taxon, mycologists can rapidly exploit the
need for research in this area.
The second strategy fungal ecologists can use to' promote mycological research is to bor-
row perspectives from other groups. One example we are using is from the animal ecologists.
We propose that the importance of mycorrhizae in ecosystems far outweighs their biomass or
energy requirements ; they regulate many ecosys tern processes such as succession, plant per-
sistence, and grazing patterns. Using such an experimental approach, e.g. attaching an im-
portance value to mycorrhi zae, has benefits to both applied and basic research.
The third strategy is to promote study of mycorrhizal fungi physiology. There are nu-
merous good fungal physiologists but few are working with mycorrhizal fungi. Transfer of
some of this talent to work on such areas as germination and growth of VAM fungi and fungal
nutrient transport mechanisms will generate a major interest in agribusiness and would en-
hance funding for training of future mycologists.
The fourth area of emphasis should be on education, particularly of our colleagues. I
recently heard a lecturer discuss "saprophytic" plants. As we well know, these plants do not
live on decaying organic matter but derive much if not most of their nutritional requirements
from their fungal associates. We must also educate reviewers and editors of granting agencies
and journals from other disciplines. A colleague of mine recently had a paper rejected from
an ecology journal because it was "mycology in the guise of ecology. " Fungi have physiologies,
ecologies, and systematics just as any other kingdom.
Fifth, mycologists must quit doing "golly-gee whiz" mycology; surveys or studies to see
what organisms are present with no theoretical base. We must assess specific testable hy-
potheses. Mycologists must test (and discredit ungrounded) current ecological , physiological
and systematic theories from other fast-paced fields. With mycorrhizae in particular, mycol-
ogists are in a unique position; we must not only test other theories, but we should be
creating those theories.
Finally, mycologists must be more than mycologists; we must become complete scientists.
Most mycology professors produce more students than their own rep1 acement requires. Our
students must be competitors as microbi 01 ogists , ecologists and physiologists . Moreover, we
must not just persuade department heads, deans and vice-presidents to hire mycologists, we
must become the department heads, deans, and vice-presidents in academia, government and in-
dustry. I listened to much of the AIBS symposium on "Holistic Approaches to Description and
Management of Stressed Ecosystems," an interdisciplinary discussion of how to deal with dis-
turbances and stresses. I did not see any other mycologists there despite the fact that a
number of mycologists are working on disturbances such as clear-cuts and mine reclamation.
There were no mycologists preparing to take a lead role in the theory or decisionmaking of a
newly developing discipline in which fungi are a major component.
It is only by understanding other disciplines and competing for positions, grants, and,
often, academic recngni tion that mycology wi 11 be regarded as viable scientific discipline.
The alternative is stagnation and a perception as eccentrics who retain a few academic positions
and pub1 ish minute descriptions of "1 i ttle plants" in their own obscure journals.
Mycology then wi 11 be done by microbiologists, ecologists, physiologists or not at a1 1.
Michael F. Allen