Integrating wild mushrooms use into a model of sustainable management for indigenous community forests

Recently, the importance of fungal resources has been brought to the forefront due to their ecological and economical importance. There have been many efforts to record their diversity at local and regional scales. However, few studies deal with the potential value of fungi for the development of local communities, particularly in developing countries. The present study presents the results of a five-year inventory of useful mushrooms in the communal land of Ixtlan de Juarez, Oaxaca. We use the species list to analyze the real possibility of local communities incorporating these resources into a model of local development exploiting wood and non-wood forest products in the context of Smart wood certification. The model discusses three main strategies for mushroom management (diversification of forest exploitation, incorporation of soil function to forestry and fungal technology development); in each case we also discuss the viability and infrastructure necessary to implement it. We identified a total of 159 taxa of useful mushrooms and provide information on their habit, substrate, abundance and recorded use. Thirteen taxa were Ascomycetes and 146 Basidiomycetes; belonging to 42 families and 73 genera. A total of 38 taxa (23.9%) were new records for the state of Oaxaca. This is, to date, the most comprehensive list of useful mushrooms presented in Mexico. It demonstrates the huge mycological diversity of these resources present in the Juarez' Mountain Range. A total of 113 species are edible, 38 species have direct applications in forest management, 19 species have medicinal properties, 12 are toxic and 12 species have recorded biotechnological applications. The diversity and heterogeneity of potential uses of these resources represent a challenging opportunity for local communities. Product diversification is a fundamental strategy to integrate a model of sustainable forest exploitation. We concluded that communities developing forestry activities must be aware of the functional properties of ectomycorrhizal and saprotrophic fungi to include them in their own forest management plans. We also outline a set of common steps for initiating sustainable and diversified forestry practices which include: awareness-raising targeted to local authorities and forestry technicians on the ecological importance of mushrooms; illustrated catalogues on useful species accessible to all the communities, which would allow taxonomic identification for all species; local technical capacity to obtain and disseminate strains of mycorrhizal and saprotrophic fungi; obtaining resources to develop infrastructure to cultivate mushrooms, among many others projects.