Taxonomy and Systematics of fungi from South America –a special issue in honoring Leif Ryvarden: Introduction

Abstract

Since the ending of the nineteen century and the beginning of the last one, pioneered by mycologists such as Carlos Spegazzini, A. Giacomo Bresadola, Johann Rick and Miles Joseph Berkeley, mycological research in South America has grown vigorously and continues in the present time. Numerous taxa have been described, many papers have been published, and several regional mycotas have been produced. One of the major contributors in this field is Professor Leif Ryvarden, who has made substantial contributions to the knowledge of polypore diversity in his series of articles Neotropical polypores, where he describes patterns of polypore distribution and putforth clever hypotheses about the processes behind those patterns. In addition he worked closely with several local mycologists (Fig. 1). The contributions of Dr. Ryvarden are not restricted to South America or to polypores. It would be a quite difficult task to enumerate Ryvarden´s overall contributions to the field of mycology, but for any mycologist it is clearly evident that his contributions –more than three hundred published articles and books– extend all around the world and substantially improved our knowledge on fungal diversity on a global scale. It is for this reason that we have dedicated this special issue of Kurtziana to Professor Leif Ryvarden in honour of his devotion to South American mycology.