DISCUSSION OF THE CHECKLISTS

Checklists are a special kind of list presenting an inventory of species known from a particular area. Although in some instances, birds for example, a checklist for an area may be reasonably complete, for fungi a checklist is always just a partial inventory of what is actually there. In spite of that limitation mycologists make serious use of checklists. A checklist of fungi can be an exciting tool for the naturalist who otherwise might have no idea whether his or her finds are unusual or not. Because the commonest species usually get on a checklist first the collector will stand a good chance of matching a collection with something already on the list, a handy aid to identification. Checklists are also useful in comparing the presence and absence of species between two or more areas.

Over time we hope that our checklist site will contain a number of checklists. Of course these will be located by search engines, allowing world-wide access to the records they present.