Wild edible mushroom knowledge and use in five forest communities in central Mexico

Wild edible mushrooms are non-timber forest products highly valued as food supplements and a source of income for rural communities. The objective is to quantify the use and knowledge of wild edible mushrooms across forest socio-ecosystems of central Mexico. We conducted 40 household structured surveys in five Mestizo communities in the state of Michoacan (central-western Mexico) to evaluate their mycological knowledge. We also compare the knowledge of these Mestizo people with that of the surrounding Indigenous communities. We compiled and updated a list of the wild edible mushrooms used in the whole state, which contains 243 mushroom species used out of the 371 used in Mexico. Here, in these five communities, we recorded 13 species currently used (a median of seven). In four communities, 1 kg of mushrooms on average is collected per harvesting trip, whereas in one of the communities, people extracted 3 kg of mushrooms per trip on average and 5-15 kg per season, respectively. The most used and valued species were Amanita basii, Amanita jacksonii, and Hypomyces lactifluorum. Despite being highly valued resources, land managers do not include mushrooms in the decision-making process for planning forest management. We found that knowledge and use of wild edible mushrooms in Mestizo communities are lower than those in regional Indigenous communities in localities with similar climate and forest vegetation. Fungal resources like wild edible mushrooms in the area are therefore underutilized, making forested areas more vulnerable to land-use change. Promotion of mycological knowledge may contribute to enhancing forest conservation policies.