A database of the global distribution of alien macrofungi

Abstract

Human activities are allowing the ever-increasing dispersal of taxa to beyond their native ranges. Understanding the patterns and implications of these distributional changes requires comprehensive information on the geography of introduced species. Current knowledge about the alien distribution of macrofungi is limited taxonomically and temporally, which severely hinders the study of human-mediated distribution changes for this taxonomic group. Here, we present a database on the global alien distribution of macrofungi species. Data on the distribution of alien macrofungi were searched in a large number of data sources, including scientific publications, grey literature and online databases. The database compiled includes 1966 records (i.e. species x region combinations) representing 2 phyla, 7 classes, 22 orders, 82 families, 207 genera, 648 species and 31 varieties, forms or subspecies. Dates of introduction records range from 1753 to 2018. Each record includes the location where the alien taxon was identified and, when available, the date of first observation, the host taxa or other important information. This database is a major step forward to the understanding of human-mediated changes in the distribution of macrofungal taxa.