MoSTFun (Monitoring Strategies and Tools to address knowledge gaps on aquatic Fungal biodiversity) is funded through the Biodiversa+ EU Biodiversity Partnership and thus part of a new wave of innovations in biodiversity monitoring across Europe. MoSTFun aims to reduce the knowledge gap on Aquatic Fungi (AF) by adding these vital organisms to biodiversity monitoring programs.

For this goal, MoSTFun unites scientists, biomonitoring experts and conservation professionals. It will perform new and specific sampling campaigns and reanalyze samples from existing biomonitoring programs, focusing mainly on DNA samples in both approaches. MoSTFun will establish collaborations with these biomonitoring programs to identify and use synergies but also to ensure that the tools and knowledge generated can be integrated into the very different types of existing monitoring programs.

It will also closely interact with stakeholders and end-users to create the motivation and momentum to uptake of the tools and knowledge generated into biodiversity policy.

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MoSTFun will establish collaborations with these biomonitoring programs to identify and use synergies but also to ensure that the tools and knowledge generated can be integrated into the very different types of existing monitoring programs.

It will also closely interact with stakeholders and end-users to create the motivation and momentum to uptake of the tools and knowledge generated into biodiversity policy.

“Society and environmental policy tends to care about the big animals and plants, but in ecosystems it’s often the small and inconspicuous beings, such as fungi, that do the heavy lifting. They contribute disproportionately to the good functioning and stability of ecosystems. If we as a society care about the health of ecosystems, we need to understand and monitor how the biodiversity of aquatic fungi is changing across space and time, and for this we need their inclusion in standardized biomonitoring programs. MoSTFun is making the first steps towards this goal”

Andreas Bruder
Senior Scientist, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland

What are aquatic fungi?

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Aquatic fungi spend their entire lifecycle in aquatic habitats and include specimens from all the fungal tree of life. They are a highly diverse group with approximately 5900 described species, living in most ecosystems studied so far, from freshwater (3800 species) to seawater (2100 species). However, the real diversity of aquatic fungi would probably be much higher, ranging from thousands to more than 1 million. This “fungal dark matter” becomes more and more visible thanks to methodological advances, in particular in molecular techniques.

Aquatic fungi are crucial in ecosystems as resources for higher trophic levels, as parasites that control animal and plant populations, and as decomposers and pathogens that control carbon and nutrient cycling. Aquatic fungi thereby contribute to all four categories of ecosystem services:

Regulating services, like leaf litter decomposition and the self-cleaning capacity of ecosystems;
Supporting services, like nutrient cycling and bioindicators of environmental conditions.
Provisioning services, notably metabolites and clean water.
Cultural services, particularly educational and inspirational values.

Human activities alter ecosystems and in most cases lead to biodiversity loss. Animals, plants and fungi are responsible for ecosystems' processes and services. The loss of species threatens the ability of ecosystems to provide these services and to remain stable over time.

Scientists have raised awareness of this threat for decades and in response, policy has established biomonitoring programs that help to assess change in ecosystem status and biodiversity over time and space. However, despite their importance for ecosystems, no monitoring program yet includes aquatic fungi, i.e. fungi living in freshwater and marine ecosystems. Understanding and monitoring the biodiversity, functions, ecological roles, and ecosystem services of aquatic fungi requires diverse techniques and approaches to be efficient, ranging from traditional morphology-based to novel molecular and biochemical techniques and from in-situ observations and experiments to remote sensing approaches. It will also require better coordination among scientists, conservationists, and ecosystem managers globally to implement techniques most effectively.

MoSTFun is one of the 33 projects funded in the Biodiversa+ and the European Union joint call for projects in 2022 on “Improved transnational monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem change for science and society” (BiodivMon). Biodiversa+ is the European Biodiversity Partnership supporting excellent research on biodiversity with an impact for society and policy. This call represents a financial commitment of more than 46 million Euro from the participating countries and co-funding from the European Commission.

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Design • Max Fonseca, Istituto design - SUPSI

What are aquatic fungi?

Regulating services, like leaf litter decomposition and the self-cleaning capacity of ecosystems;

Supporting services, like nutrient cycling and bioindicators of environmental conditions.

Provisioning services, notably metabolites and clean water.

Cultural services, particularly educational and inspirational values.