Importance of Seasonal Variation in Hawaiian Mushroom (Agaricomycetes) Basidiomata Production for Biodiversity Discovery and Conservation.

The Hawaiian Islands have a relatively well-known funga for a tropical location, yet there are over 400 species of mushrooms (Agaricomycetes) in the archipelago that remain to be documented. Importantly, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recently evaluated six mushrooms endemic to the islands as threatened with extinction. To improve detection of mushrooms for biodiversity discovery and better monitor threatened species in the archipelago-where many localities lack strong annual precipitation patterns associated with an obvious season for increased mushroom basidiomata production-we examined the phenology of Hawaiian mushrooms.