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This year on National Meadows Day, we are campaigning for the protection of irreplaceable meadows – and we need your help!
Our wildflower meadows are a powerful ally in the fight against climate change – but they are in trouble!
“Will you help protect and restore irreplaceable habitats?”
Our corporate partners benefit from 35 years of experience in nature restoration so they can achieve real impact.
Become a Plantlife member today and together we will rebuild a world rich in plants and fungi
Known as nature’s meadow maker, Yellow Rattle, is the single most important plant you need when creating a wildflower meadow.
Here’s everything you need to know.
Yellow rattle, commonly known as the meadow maker, is one of the most important plants you need for a meadow. Without it, vigorous grasses can grow unchecked and smother flowers you want to encourage.
As Yellow Rattle Rhinanthus minor grows in a meadow the grass will become thinner, making room for plants like Oxeye Daisy, Knapweeds and Vetches to appear. And if you’re lucky, maybe even an orchid will pop up.
Then large bees, especially bumblebees, move in and pollinate the flowers of yellow rattle and it’s large seed pods dry and ripen. This leaves the seeds rattling around inside. Farmers used to use the sound of the rattling seeds as their cue to cut the hay – hence the name.
Yellow Rattle is a very useful starting plant when making a wildflower meadow, but it can be a little tricky to establish. Here are some top tips to get you started:
If you have very fertile soil, it might be trickier to grow Yellow Rattle. Poor and infertile soils are best and following the steps above will help reduce the fertility of your soil over time.
Late summer (August-September) is the best time to sow Yellow Rattle. It will not grow successfully if sown in the spring. The seeds can be sown no later than November because they need about 4 months below 5C to germinate in the spring.
Yellow Rattle is easy to collect by hand. Simply hold a paper bag under the ripe seed pod and shake it gently with your fingers. Collecting larger quantities can easily be done using a vacuum or leaf blower.
WATCH: Plantlife’s Sarah Shuttleworth collects Yellow Rattle with a vacuum.
There are a number of reasons why Yellow Rattle may disappear from a meadow, including:
For meadows, we recommend 0.5-2.5kg per hectare/10-20g per m2 if you are collecting your own seed.
There are several possible reasons:
Your go-to guide for transforming places into flower-rich meadows.
Yellow Rattle, is the single most important plant you need when creating a wildflower meadow. Here’s everything you need to know.
Managing or making meadows, whether in a lawn or larger site, can sometimes lead to prickly problem plants like docks or nettles. Follow our expert advice for managing problem plants.
Want to start a community meadow, but not sure where to begin? Read our guide to creating a flower-filled haven for your local community.
Mark Schofield
Congratulations – we’ve reached the end of No Mow May! On behalf of your wildflowers and pollinators, thank you for breaking with convention and for re-imagining your lawns and your local green spaces.
But the buzz doesn’t have to stop there…why not leave a space in your garden for nature to continue to bloom this June? From different grass lengths, how to look out for wildlife and how to mow (if you want to) – follow our expert advice to continue your No Mow Movement.
By not mowing in May you have taken the first step in the No Mow Movement, boosted the wildflowers and thrown a much-needed lifeline to your pollinators. Hopefully you can already see the difference you’ve made and are pleased with the results (we know we are!).
Now the growth season moves into June, things don’t have to get messy or overgrown and you can still maintain a space for your local wildlife. If you’re wondering what to do or concerned about your mower not being able to cope – we have some ideas about how you can build on your success while keeping things under control! But importantly, your lawn or open space is your canvas and you hold the paintbrush.
You now have an opportunity to design your wildflower landscape. Grassland wildlife comes in different flavours and you could incorporate these different elements into your plan.
You might need to keep your paths and recreation areas mown short but perhaps you could frame these functional areas with a flowering lawn mown once every 4 to 8 weeks. This allows common, low-growing wild flowers to regrow and reflower throughout the summer while you maintain a shorter, neater height. Picture a carpet of red and white clovers, golden trefoils, puddles of blue selfheal and the white froth of yarrow. You will find that even in the fiercest droughts, the wildflowers will stay green and keep flowering while grasses fall dormant and turn brown.
If you are feeling bolder you might want to trial leaving some of your open space unmown for longer. By mowing only twice a year outside of April to July you could try to recreate the effect of a traditional hay meadow. This allows taller growing flowers such as red campions, purple knapweeds and mauve scabious to grace your space with a more dynamic swirl of colours animated by a summer breeze. You can picture this flavour of grassland as a perennial, herbaceous border you never need to weed feed or water. It holds more value for wildlife because when left undisturbed for longer, wildflowers and grasses can support the lifecycles of those invertebrates that depend upon them.
The more adventurous among you may want to take it to the next stage around the boundary of your plot. Grassland left unmown won’t support so many wildflowers but will provide vital sanctuary for wildlife during hot summers and cold winters. Tussocks of grass and tall herbs will develop, and this structure is a great way to provide another niche for wildlife that complements the more flower-rich areas. Such sanctuary strips need only be a few feet wide at the base of your hedgerow and they only require a minimum of management when you snip out woody saplings or the bramble gets too much. You will be providing vital protection for toads and voles while seedheads will act as natural bird feeders for visiting finches.
Leaving borders to grow supports a wealth of wildflower and wildlife
By the end of No Mow May, your garden lawn may also look like this!
Creating a patchwork of lawn lengths in your garden can support a range of wildflowers
Some of the tools Mark uses in June to manage his lawn
If your grassy growth has gotten away from you, don’t panic. Not all mowers can cope with tall vegetation but most can if you mow in two stages.
Firstly, check your lawn for wildlife – and never mow around the edges towards the centre, this leaves no escape route for wildlife. Instead, as you mow, progress gradually towards sanctuary areas such as uncut grass strips at boundaries.
Next, set the blades as high as possible then mow strips only half as wide as the mower. This will reduce the load on the mower’s engine and make the job easier. You can then re-pass as normal with blades set lower to finish the job. Alternatively, if you have one, a strimmer can be a better way to tackle a taller sward.
This will prevent the build-up of cuttings which can stifle the regrowth of wildflowers. With no cuttings to rot back down into the soil, it will also help to reduce the fertility of the soil. More fertility gives the advantage to your grass over your flowers. This produces a lush green lawn but it will be much less colourful and much less valuable for wildlife.
If collecting up or raking off your cuttings seems like more work, remember that you are actually saving effort by managing some zones less frequently. This means that you don’t have to mow everywhere all at once every time. In fact, by removing the cuttings each time you cut, fertility will reduce each year meaning that regrowth will be less and less each year. That means you won’t need to cut so often in the future so you can save yourself the effort, reduce your carbon footprint and enjoy the wildlife! Wilder lawns also capture and lock away more carbon in the soil, so you will be doing your bit for the climate too.
You can use cuttings to mulch your vegetable beds to suppress weeds, retain soil moisture and add fertility where you want it. Composting is also a great way to recycle your cuttings with other organics into soil you can use next season.
Some wildlife may have taken refuge in your liberated lawn. Here are some quick tips for keeping wildlife safe while you mow:
It’s not too late to join Plantlife’s No Mow May. It’s is one of the easiest ways to connect with wildlife and the perfect way to start supporting nature in your garden (in May and beyond!).
Join to help us understand how much space is being left for nature and for free goodies and tips.
Ultimately, it’s your lawn and your choice – to manage as you wish. You can rekindle wildflowers from those that are already present and the seeds that have remained naturally dormant in the soil. You might also consider introducing some native perennial wildflower seed or native perennial wildflower plants this autumn. We will have more advice on this later in the year.
However you choose to enjoy your new wildlife area, we wish you every success. Now that you have added a little more colour to the world, we hope you are rewarded with the fizz of grasshoppers, the delight of birdsong and a space that dances with butterflies and buzzes with pollinators.
We would love to see how your No Mow Movement is going – whether that’s pictures of your garden, the flowers blooming or the wildlife that comes to visit. Share your pictures, videos and stories by tagging us on Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Bluesky.
If you’ve been taking part in the No Mow Movement, you might have spotted some wonderful wildflowers poking through your lawn.
Our meadows have been part of our natural heritage for centuries and cared for by people for generations – but they are now more at risk than ever before.
Join us and expert botanist Ben Averis for this meadows ID training session to get ready for a season of surveys.
We have an exciting opportunity for people to join us, along with expert botanist Ben Averis, for a meadows ID training session in the Cairngorms.
This training session aims to give you skills to identify a number of wild plants that we find in our grasslands in Scotland.
After the session, there will also be further volunteering opportunities to join surveys at 4 farms later this summer.
In partnership with Pastures for Life, we have been supporting 4 farmers to trial novel grazing techniques. These techniques have been designed to improve biodiversity in upper Strathspey in the Cairngorms National Park for the past 4 years.
This summer volunteers will then be leading on a rapid habitat assessment, revisiting quadrats previously assigned to assess habitat improvement.
Location: The upcoming training session will take place on June 7 at Nethy Bridge in the Cairngorms.
Accessibility: This training covers rough terrain and will be off paths. There will also be some steep slopes.
Facilities: There are no toilet facilities on site.
Refreshments: Tea and coffee will be provided, and volunteers are asked to bring a packed lunch on the day.
A rainbow of wildflowers in your lawn doesn’t just bring garden owners joy, but it is also the sign of a healthy and thriving garden.
Learn how to increase the number of wildflowers appearing in your lawn this year with our expert guidance.
Different flowers provide different resources for different wildlife species. Clover on a short flowering lawn provides a lifeline for bumblebees, long grasses provide an essential resource for butterflies and moths such as the Small Skipper, and Goldfinches are attracted to Knapweed when it sets seed.
But how do you increase the diversity of plants in your garden? Here are some tips from Plantlife’s wildflower experts to help you create a blooming bonanza!
They are some of the first lawn flowers to appear each year and provide much needed food to early bees and other pollinators when there is little else out in flower. Sparrows also enjoy feasting on their seeds as a tasty snack.
Plantlife’s No Mow May is here – let’s give power to the flowers!
It’s is one of the easiest ways to connect with wildlife and the perfect way to start supporting nature in your garden (in May and beyond!).
If you have any questions before getting started, from what happens when you stop mowing, to which flowers might pop up – here’s everything you need to know to join the movement.
For the past 7 years, thousands of people have joined our No Mow May movement, choosing to give nature a boost by letting their lawns grow.
This year, it’s all about the flowers! We want as many people as possible to give power to the flowers by letting their lawns bloom throughout May and beyond.
No Mow May™ is Plantlife’s annual campaign we launched in 2018 to encourage people to manage their lawns for nature.
But No Mow May is just the beginning, it’s followed by Let it Bloom June and Mow-saic months right the way through. They’re all part of the growing No Mow Movement!
We see May as an entry point for people, whether you’re someone who has never thought beyond a neatly manicured lawn or someone who has always wanted to try gardening for nature. Our aim is simple: to get people cutting less, for longer. So, whether you join us just for May or stick with it all season, it all makes a real difference for nature.
We chose May to get started, because that’s when most of our wonderful wild plants are getting going for the season. Giving them time during this period gives them a good head start.
At this time of year, your garden can also become a haven for wildlife at a time when it is greatly needed.
We think of May as the starting point, a springing board for managing your lawn for nature year round. Sometimes it’s easier for people to start small, before committing to a bigger shift in their gardening journey. The goal is to mow less for longer.
Why not check out our No Mow Movement Calendar for top lawn tips throughout the year.
The No Mow Movement Calendar
2025 will be our 7th No Mow May! We started the Movement back in 2018 and thousands of people have joined us over the years, creating space for nature in their gardens.
Approximately 97% of flower-rich meadows have been lost since the 1930s, and with them, vital food and habitat needed by wildlife.
While this fact is alarming, joining the No Mow Movement is one way we can all help. There are more than 20 million gardens in the UK, and every patch, no matter how small, can add up to deliver huge gains for nature, people and the climate.
The good news is that everyone can take part in No Mow May! Even the smallest areas can add up to big wins for nature. So, whether you have a tiny space, a balcony or no garden at all, there’s always ways to join the movement.
You could make a mini meadow in even the smallest garden, or you could create one in a planter. Read our 6 Ways to do No Mow May Without a Lawn blog here, for more ideas.
Parks, road verges and village greens can all be turned into wild areas. Look out for your local Friends of Group to see if there’s any green spaces you could get involved in. If you’re not lucky enough to live close to an established group, why not consider starting your own community meadow? Read our guidance here for more information.
We’re glad you asked! It’s super easy to join the movement, all you need to do is sign up here, then put your feet up and let nature do the rest! And, for some top tips on taking part, read our lawn guide here.
The more people that sign up the better! We have streamlined our sign-ups so it’s quicker than not mowing your lawn! Registering helps us to keep track of the space that is being created for nature across the UK.
Plus, by joining the No Mow Movement you will also get access to exclusive tips, guides, stories and badges
How you take part in No Mow May is up to you — but if you want to give biodiversity the biggest boost, there’s a simple trick –, variety!
Keeping 2 to 3 different grass lengths throughout the summer helps maximise flower variety and the nectar they produce.
Nature will thank you! Giving your lawn a mowing break over the summer can allow time needed by wildflowers, to grow, bloom and set seed.
Wilder lawns are great for nature, for carbon storage, biodiversity and of course wildlife! From the insects and birds that can hide away in longer grasses, to the pollinators that wildflowers will feed, your lawn will be buzzing with life.
We encourage people to manage their lawns for nature all year round, and management does include mowing. We know that some people will need to mow more frequently than others – it’s all about mowing less for longer. Even cutting down to mowing once a month can boost lawn biodiversity and help pollinators.
If you are leaving your lawn for nature all summer long, we know that the grassy growth might get away from you.
But many mowers can cope with taller vegetation, especially if you mow in 2 stages:
Remember to remove your grass cuttings after you’ve finished strimming or mowing to prevent nutrient build-up on lawns, which can be detrimental to many wild plants.
This can depend on many of different things from how nutrient– rich your garden is, to the PH of the soil and what has seeded there naturally over time.
Common flowers you can look for include the Bird’s-foot-trefoil, Creeping Buttercup, Daisy, Dandelion, Clover, Self–heal and speedwells.
The more you let nature back into your garden, the more likely you will be to see wildflowers in the future. However, if you want to encourage more wildflowers into your lawn, there are a few things you can do.
Read our Increase the Number of Wildflowers in your Lawn blog here to find out more.
Increase the Number of Wildflowers in Your Lawn – Plantlife
We know it’s not practical for everyone to leave their entire lawns all summer long – that’s why we recommend a mow-saic approach!
Traditional hay meadows are cut once in the summer and then kept short by grazing until April. This is the process we are trying to replicate in our green spaces, so ideally some mowing is needed.
Keeping some areas longer and some shorter is a great way to keep your garden accessible while benefitting wildlife But really, how long you want to go is up to you!
Lawns left long between April or May until mid July followed by simply mowing regularly afterwards, will go straight back to that green carpet look for the rest of the year.
However, if you choose to leave your lawn long right the way through the summer until September, it might start to affect the look. Leaving your lawn long for longer can create some tussocky grass as well as thatch (dead grass/plant material), though this can be raked away partially.
If want to find out if you’re lucky enough to have any late blooming wildflowers in your lawn, but you don’t want to affect the look long term, you could try alternating. One year you could cut in mid-July then the next you could leave your lawn until September.
While No Mow May has clear benefits for wildlife, we understand it can raise some concerns for people too. We don’t want to shy away from the questions or worries you might have—so below, we’ve addressed some of the most common ones.
No Mow May is good for wild plants but what about other wildlife? Longer grass can make the perfect hiding place for hedgehogs and bugs to take shelter. And we know that this causes concerns about the risks that animals could face when it comes time to mow.
Our advice is to work gradually parallel to shelter (such as borders and hedges), which the wildlife can move towards. So you are moving closer to the shelter one mower’s width at a time.
Work from paths and high footfall areas towards the boundaries to allow disturbed wildlife to move towards cover gradually. Never mow from the outside inwards. Making a first pass with a high blade setting on your mower will help to flush wildlife before making a lower -repass for a neater finish.
And before you mow, wildlife will thrive from the benefits of your mini meadows such as all of the nectar, pollen, shelter and structure wildflowers provides!
Grass pollen can definitely be a cause of hay fever but longer grass in May is unlikely to be a big driver of high pollen counts in your area.
We know how hard hay fever can be – and all allergies must be taken very seriously. We would not advocate any garden maintenance regime that negatively impacts on residents’ health.
The occurrence of ticks in gardens is increasing, so you should wear long trousers and examine yourself carefully for ticks whenever you’ve been in long grass or other long vegetation.
Ticks are very small insects that spread a serious bacterial infection called Lyme disease. The ticks live on mammals such as hedgehogs, badgers and foxes and then drop off into long grass and vegetation, where we can pick them up and become infected. If you are bitten by a tick look out for flu-like symptoms such as feeling hot and shivery, headaches, aching muscles or feeling sick, and a circular red rash around the tick bite.
In areas where ticks are prevalent, consider maintaining a shorter grass lawn mown once every four weeks. For more information see www.nhs.uk/conditions/lyme-disease and www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk
What do you think of when you hear the word 'weed'? Join us as we uncover the myths #and delve into what it really means.
Our No Mow Movement might begin with May – but it’s just the start of the journey to manage our lawns for nature.
Follow our No Mow Movement Calendar below for all the tips and advice you need to give your lawn some flower power this year!
Did you know that our No Mow May campaign isn’t just about May? When we started our journey for nature friendly lawns back in 2018, we chose May as a starting point, to encourage people to think differently about the way they manage their lawns. But it’s just one month of a whole No Mow Movement. It’s all about encouraging people to mow less for longer.
Sometimes we need to start small, to make bigger changes in the long term. No Mow May is a way of dipping your toe into the no mow journey.
So however you choose to start or continue your No Mow Movement journey, you can find all the tips and advice you need in our calendar below.
Welcome to No Mow May!
It’s time for Let it Bloom June!
The sun is shining, the days are longer and our green fingers are ready to get stuck back in to some spring gardening.
Our gardens have the ability to become havens for nature. Increasing biodiversity, encouraging native wildflowers, letting our lawns grow wild and even planting mini meadows are all excellent ways to have a more nature-friendly garden.
As we enter spring, our minds are definitely turning to the jobs we can get stuck into in the garden, to get ready for a blooming good season.
Our Specialist Botanical Advisor Sarah Shuttleworth is on hand with expert advice for jobs you can do now.
Mow – sounds counter intuitive but actually if you can get the mower going over your lawn or No Mow May areas a couple of times before April/end of March then you will give the other species hiding amongst the grass more of a chance. This is particularly important if you have sown Yellow Rattle seed, although once you start finding the Yellow Rattle seedlings appear and are tall enough to be affected by a mow, then that’s the time to leave the mowing to allow them to grow.
No this doesn’t have anything to do with roofs. Sometimes our lawns and other grasslands can get a bit clogged up with dead plant material (known as thatch), like dead grass or old cuttings that didn’t all get picked up by the mower.
This thatch can reduce light levels to seeds waiting to germinate or other plants wanting to get growing in the spring, plus it can add nutrients to the soil, which might sound great, but not for native wildflowers trying to compete with the vigorous grasses.
Therefore during February and again next winter from autumn (although check for grassland fungi first, you don’t want to disturb them if you are lucky enough to have them in your green space) you want to rake out the thatch.
Maybe this will be your first year doing No Mow May, in which case you might want to spend a bit of time planning where you want to leave long all summer long, where you maybe want to mow monthly and where you want to have short or paths for walking around. You could draw up some designs even for creating wild and wonderful shapes. Or you could simply devote your entire lawn or green space to the way of the meadow!
If you don’t have a lawn, what about creating some meadow planters? Tubs, pots or deep trays could be sown in April with a meadow mix. This will ideally be one that is a mix of grasses and wildflower seeds, which will avoid gaps for weeds to arrive.
Remember our native meadows are mostly full of native perennial species (plants that live more than one year) rather than Cornflowers, Poppies and similar, which are annual species associated with disturbed soil like that of farmed fields.
* You can find a range of seeds at our shop here.
Leave the untidy corners and wild areas – it might be tempting to start tidying up the garden before the growing season starts, but these areas of leaf litter, twigs and longer grass along fences or hedges are perfect spots for insects, reptiles and amphibians to have been sheltering over winter. If you start to tidy it up too early you could be disturbing a slumbering creature that isn’t ready to spring into action until the weather starts warming up.
This also goes for the remnants of last years plants in your borders or pots. Sometimes these dead stems and leaves are perfect for insects to hide in whilst it’s cold and damp. Therefore leave these up all winter if you can and only ‘tidy’ up when the spring days are warm enough.
Often gardening tips to get your garden ready for spring, include prepping your lawn. The main focus of this is usually to feed your lawn, but this will only promote the vigorous grasses to out compete everything else, leaving the tiny speedwells, mouse-ears, and medicks getting crowded out!
Hopefully our top tips have given you some inspiration to get out and enjoy the spring sunshine while sprucing up your lawn or garden.
If you’re looking for more ways to move towards a more nature-friendly garden, why not join our No Mow May movement?
We’re encouraging everyone to join us in managing their lawns for nature throughout May and beyond! We’ll be ready to welcome you all to the growing #NoMowMay community from April 1, so make sure to head the page above for all the exciting updates!
Getting out and looking for fungi can be a great way to connect with nature and discover more about this amazing kingdom.
Here our Specialist Botanical Advisor, Sarah Shuttleworth, gives her top tips for finding fungi!
If like us, you love fungi – getting out and discovering all of the magnificent mushrooms you can find can be a really fun activity, and a great way to connect with nature!
Fungi don’t need to be scary, in fact, they can be just as fascinating for children as they are for adults. *Disclaimer: Picking a fungus can be done to help with identification. Never pick more than you need to, and avoid picking any rare or uncommon species. Looking for fungi can be a really fun activity, but make sure you know the rules of the sites you are visiting and always get permission for collecting from nature reserves or protected areas.
Whether you are brand new to the fungi kingdom and want some top tips to start your search, or maybe you have discovered our Waxcap Watch survey and want to know where to find grassland fungi to take part.
Below are some top tips of where to look and what you might find.
Woodlands are a great place to start your fungi interest as a huge proportion of fungi species are found in places with lots of trees. All the leaf litter, rotting wood and fallen branches are perfect places for fungi. When walking through a woodland look for any dead wood, fallen trees and stumps.
These areas are sure to have some fungi, maybe types of bracket fungi or clusters of yellow Sulphur Tufts or tiny little mushrooms peeping out from the moss. Sometimes under patches of bramble you can find little species hiding away or even on the rotting bramble stalks themselves. The best 4 trees to look under, whether in a woodland or a parkland, are:
These trees have many mycorrhizal associations with fungi, so often a good place to start looking.
If you are looking for a good selection of grassland species, especially the brightly coloured waxcaps and corals, then older, less intensively managed grasslands are the place to start.
Churchyards can be a good starting point, depending on how the grass has been managed over time, if it has lots of moss in the grass and doesn’t look too lush, then it might be quite old grassland.
Fields and lawns near big old houses can be good, again grasslands that don’t look too lush, like there is only one type of grass across the whole field and its very shiny looking grass (this might indicate that the grassland was ploughed and reseeded and then regularly fertilised, which waxcaps do not like).
Grassland, like that of playing fields, that is mown very regularly and the cuttings are left on the surface are not likely to be good for waxcaps, however you can still find fungi like Fairy Ring Champignon, which creates rings of mushrooms, which can be seen even when the fungi are not fruiting as the ring creates a different look to the grass. There will be other tiny little bonnets or bell fungi too, hard to identify, but fun to look at.
Shorter grass is also going to be more fruitful than areas with long tussocks that haven’t been cut or grazed for a year or more. Look for anthills, mossy patches, away from shading caused by trees or hedges. Sometimes you need to really look closely and move the grass out of the way to find them hiding in there.
Fungi underpin the health of our environment and are key to resolving the climate, ecological and societal challenges we face. Your donation could help increase understanding of fungi and get them the support they need.
Recent studies have revealed that there’s so much fungi out there that we don’t know about.
But how do we know this? Plantlife’s Rachel Inhester, from our science team, tells us why.
This incredible fact from the Kew report, ‘State of the World’s Plants and Fungi 2023’, highlights just how much there is to learn when it comes to fungi. That was certainly my first thought when I read this statement. It’s exciting to think of all the discoveries we have yet to make, and it gives an indication as to the huge amount of work ahead of us, to find and classify such a large number of unknown species. The report goes on to estimate that there are between 2-3 million species of fungi in the world, and as of yet, only 155,000 of those species have been formally named!
Fungi can be difficult to detect for a number of reasons:
As I was contemplating just how little we know about these extraordinary organisms; another thought came to mind. How can we estimate that 90% of fungal species are unknown to science? How did we come up with that number? In other words, how can we know what we don’t know?
Well, it turns out, that to arrive at such an estimate, you first need a team of fungal specialists, known as mycologists, and then you need the time and capacity to critically evaluate all the current knowledge on the topic so far. It was certainly no simple undertaking!
Past methods of calculating the number of fungal species, were not without issue, so the team of experts definitely had their work cut out for them. Previous estimates couldn’t be completely relied upon on their own. Sampling techniques varied and some fungal groups were not considered in certain studies. Some reports were simply outdated due to the discoveries that have been made since they were first published.
It’s important that we try to speed up this process so that we can understand the fascinating world of fungi around us. Fungi are interconnected with nearly all life on earth. They can improve nutrient uptake of plants, improve the immunity of their plant hosts against pathogens, they are biomass decomposers, and some species are used to make medicines [1].
The team of specialists decided to focus on 4 key academic areas to better estimate the number of expected species. These research areas were scaling laws, fungus to plant ratios, actual vs previously known species and DNA based studies.
Organisms are classified into 8 main levels or ‘taxa’. From highest to lowest, these taxa are: Domain – Kingdom – Phylum – Class – Order – Family – Genus – Species. This is a way of organising organisms into groups which become more inclusive with every level. Let’s use the Fly Agaric fungi as an example. At species level we simply have Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria). The Fly Agaric is an individual species, but individual species can belong to a larger group, or genus, in this case the genus Amanita. A genus is a grouping of similar species which all share a common ancestor. The groupings, or taxa, get progressively larger as you move up each level until you reach the levels of Kingdom and Domain. The Fly Agaric is part of the Fungi Kingdom which includes all other fungal species.
Scaling law studies aim to predict species diversity by looking at patterns in the numbers of ‘higher taxa’ and the number of known species in each.
In this case, information from the level of phylum (the third taxa) to genus (the seventh taxa) was used. Patterns in the numbers of these ‘higher taxa’ were compiled to predict fungal species diversity. Previous studies were assessed by the fungal experts, who adjusted the estimates to include recent discoveries and accurate numbers of known species.
Fungus to plant ratios have been estimated in multiple studies over the years and for a variety of habitats. Therefore, if we know the number of plant species, we can make a pretty good estimate as to the number of fungal species.
However, the fungal experts were still faced with challenges when examining previous research. Studies varied in how they calculated the ratios to begin with. Some only considered fungi with a known association to plants and other studies were much broader. Coupled with the fact that lots of fungi can be difficult to detect and may have no association with plants whatsoever, a lot of the predictions were considered an underestimate. On evaluating earlier research, the specialists felt that a ratio of 5:1, of fungi to plant species, in temperate areas and 4:1 in tropical locations, was more accurate than previous estimates.
Some species of fungi can be difficult to differentiate. This can cause an underestimation of species numbers as multiple species are occasionally classified as one and the same. The fungal experts examined a study which had investigated this in detail where they concluded that there were 11 times as many actual species compared with previously known species. Varying definitions of exactly what a species is, creates difficulty with this method of estimation.
DNA based methods have been an incredibly powerful tool in documenting fungal diversity around the world. A single sample can allow scientists to sequence the DNA of whole communities of fungi. These samples can come from a variety of places, including soil and deadwood. The samples are then analysed and any DNA within the sample is extracted and sequenced.
This DNA gives us a list of all the fungal species found in a sample, including species which we can’t even see, providing us with a more accurate representation of fungal species numbers.
For Kew’s report, it provided the final piece of the puzzle in answering the question of ‘how many species of fungi do we think there are globally?’.
Using all the information and research available to them, the fungal experts refined their predictions and came up with an estimate of 2.5 million species of fungi worldwide! [2]
So there really was a lot of work that went into this seemingly impossible estimation. As it stands, this estimate reveals how many species we have yet to discover.
At this time, around 2,500 new species of fungi are identified and described each year. And if the above estimate is accurate, that would mean waiting 750-1000 years for us to find and describe the rest. [2]
As we discover more species, we shall hopefully uncover more benefits of the fungi around us, as well as conserving as many species as possible before we potentially lose them forever.
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