Various systems have been proposed to rank sites for grassland sites for their fungal conservation value. Erik Rald (1985) in Denmark proposed a system based on the number of species of Hygrocybe and there were other proposals building on this, some slightly more complicated, made by Johan Nitare (1988) in Sweden, John Bjarne Jordal (1997) in Norway. Maurice Rotheroe (1999) then proposed a system that included a weighted score for rarer species that are restricted to species rich sites. This was further developed by McHugh et al (2002) when we proposed a weighted scoring system for Ireland. One of the main drivers for this was due the lack of mycological recording in Ireland, we wanted to highlight sites for further visits that had species thought to be rarer or more valuable indicator species. Weighting species is not simple as in reality the data is not available to weight them with confidence (Griffith et al., 2006) but the point was to use this in conjunction with standard CHEG scores and highlight possible interesting sites (McHugh et al., 2001).
Most of the scoring systems above base their score on species and do not include varieties in the calculation (Rald, 1985), (Nitare, 1988), (Boertmann, 1995), (Vesterholt et al., 1999) and (McHugh et al., 2001). However, some surveys have counted varieties (Rotheroe, 1999) and (Newton et al., 2002) so it is very important to be clear about the basis of the system used when comparing data across regions.
To get over some of the above problems JNCC produced revised SSSI Guidelines describing a simple non-weighted scoring system (hence forward called the “SSSI Score”) for assessing sites of grassland fungi interest for SSSI / ASSIs within all the CHEGD groups and so if all assessments used just these species, quoted CHEGD scores would finally be comparable. One issue encountered however was how to handle the discovery of new, especially cryptic species. The paper addressed this using the example of Microglossum olivaceum. It is known that this is a complex but only the aggregate species complex scores hence if more than one of the new species e.g. Microglossum truncatum or M. fuscorubens is found, only one “scores”. Hence if new cryptic species are found, these need to be assigned to a scoring complex.
One other complicating factor is that some species are viewed as occuring in non-grassland habitats and do not score. This is particularly evident with Entoloma where many species are woodland species but also with species like Hygrocybe conicoides (a sand dune species), Hygrocybe coccineocrenata (a wetland species) and the upland H .salicis-herbaceae and Chromosera spp which all do not score. There could be debate about this as a dune site may be excellent for grassland fungi and not score well enough as a sand dune site and it remains to be seen if H. coccineocrenata is not also found on drier sites.
The published thresholds for consideration for site protection are based however on the defined scoring species and are as follows:
| Group | Acronym | Scoring Species |
| Fairy Clubs | C | 7 |
| Waxcaps | H | 19 |
| Pink Gills | E | 15 |
| Earth Tongues | G | 5 |
| Crazed Gills and Allies | D | 3 |
If the defined scoring species are changed, it will mean that the thresholds need to be revised and this may happen soon with the discovery that Fairy Clubs actually include gilled species like Hodophilus, Camarophyllopsis and Lamelloclavaria means that they need to be transferred from the D group but this has not yet happened.
Due to the above reasons, there can be subtle differences between the “full” CHEGD score and the SSSI score for a site and this difference will become more pronounced as more cryptic species are discovered within current species concepts.
One huge advantage of using this SSSI scoring system as an attribute for condition monitoring is that sites may qualify for any one or more of the individual CHEGD component groups giving a finer resolution of assessment.
Note that records recorded more than 50 years do not score.
References
Bosanquet, S.D.S., Ainsworth, A.M., Cooch, S.P., Genney, D.R, and Wilkins, T.C. (2018) Guidelines for the Selection of Biological SSSIs. Part 2: Detailed Guidelines for Habitats and Species Groups. Chapter 14 Non-lichenised Fungi. Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough.
Griffith G., Holden L., Mitchel D., Evans D.E., Aron C., Evans S., Graham A. (2006) Mycological Survey of selected semi-natural grasslands in Wales, Countryside Council for Wales.
Jordal J.B. (1997) Sopp i naturbeitemarker i Norge. En kunnskapsstatus over utbredelse, okologi, indikatorverdi og trusler i et europeisk perspektiv. Direktoratet for naturforvaltning, Trondheim.
McHugh R., Mitchel D., Wright M., Anderson R. (2001) The fungi of Irish Grasslands and their value for nature conservation. Biology & Environment 101B:225-242.
Newton A.C., Davy L.M., Holden E., Silverside A., Watling R., Ward S.D. (2002) Status, distribution and definition of mycologically important grasslands in Scotland. Biological Conservation 111.
Nitare J. (1988) Jordtungor, en svampgrupp pa tillbakagang i naturliga fodermarker. Svensk. Bot. Tidskr.:485-489.
Rald E. (1985) Vokshatte som indikatorarter for mykologisk vaerdifulde overdrevslokaliteter. Svampe:1-9.
Rotheroe M. (1999) Mycological survey of selected semi-natural grasslands in Carmarthenshire, Countryside Council for Wales.