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Understanding and describing the diversity of living organisms is a great challenge. Fungi have for a long time been, and unfortunately still are, underestimated when it comes to taxonomic research. The foundations were laid by the first mycologists through field observations. These important fundamental works have been and remain vital reference works. Nevertheless, a non-negligible part of the studied funga escaped their attention. Thanks to modern developments in molecular techniques, the study of fungal diversity has been revolutionized in terms of tools and knowledge. Despite a number of disadvantages inherent to these techniques, traditional field-based inventory work has been increasingly superseded and neglected. This perspective aims to demonstrate the central importance of field-based research in fungal diversity studies, and encourages researchers not to be blinded by the sole use of molecular methods. 

ABSTRACT Metabolism is thought to mediate the connection between environmental selection pressures and a broad array of life history tradeoffs, but tests are needed. High juvenile predation correlates with fast growth, which may be achieved via fast juvenile metabolism. Fast offspring metabolism and growth can create physiological costs later in life that should be minimized in species with low adult mortality. Yet, relationships between juvenile metabolism and mortality at offspring versus adult stages are unexplored. We found that post-natal metabolism was positively correlated with adult mortality but not nest predation rates among 43 songbird species on three continents. Nest predation, but not adult mortality, explained additional variation in growth rates beyond metabolism. Our results suggest that metabolism may not be the mechanism underlying the relationships between growth and mortality at different life stages. 

Neotropical cloud forests are biologically and ecologically unique and represent a largely untapped reservoir of species new to science, particularly for understudied groups like those within the Kingdom Fungi. We conducted a three-week fungal survey within Cusuco National Park, Honduras and made 116 collections of fungi in forest habitats at 1287–2050 m a.s.l. Undescribed species are likely to be present in those collections, including members of the genera Calostoma (Boletales), Chlorociboria, Chlorosplenium, Ionomidotis (Helotiales), Amparoina, Cyathus, Gymnopus, Pterula (Agaricales), Lactifluus (Russulales), Mycocitrus (Hypocreales), Trechispora (Trechisporales), and Xylaria (Xylariales). In this paper, we discuss the contributions and impacts of mycological surveys in the Neotropics and propose the establishment of a long-term mycological inventory at Cusuco National Park—the first of its kind in northern Central America.