BACKGROUND Ectomycorrhizal (EcM) fungi constitute a source of income as well as proper food with considerable nutritional value. Although edible EcM fungi are highly diverse and expected to host considerable nutritional attributes, only few studies focus on their use and promotion in the province of Tshopo (DR Congo). This study provides original ethnomycological and diversity data on edible ectomycorrhizal rainforest fungi from the Man-and-Biosphere reserve of Yangambi and the reserve of Yoko. METHODS The list of edible fungi follows the current taxonomy. Taxa were collected in plots situated in different types of rainforests. Each taxon is supported by herbarium reference specimens. Ethnomycological data on locally consumed EcM fungi were collected from randomly selected people living near the Man-and-Biosphere reserve of Yangambi and the Yoko reserve. People were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. The interview campaign involved 160 informants, all randomly selected from 6 different ethnic communities. RESULTS The results reveal that rainforests from the Yangambi Biosphere reserve and Yoko forest reserve provide a relatively high number of edible fungi, more than local people actually use. Mixed forest stands hold the highest diversity in saprotrophic edible fungi (p value < 0.001) while no significant difference (p value > 0.05) was observed in the number of saprotrophic and EcM fungi within monodominant forests. In spite of being accessible, this renewable natural resource is underexploited. Although a wide array of EcM fungi is available in primary forests dominated by ectomycorrhizal trees, local people's major interest goes to the saprotrophic fungi from areas with degraded mixed forests. CONCLUSION The lack of local interest for EcM fungi is probably related to the considerable distance people have to cover to collect them. As a result, the edible EcM fungi from the Tshopo area represent a potentially interesting but underutilized resource.

中文翻译：

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野生食用外生菌根真菌：来自Tshopo省（刚果民主共和国）的雨林的一种未充分利用的食物资源。

背景技术外生菌根真菌（EcM）构成了收入来源以及具有相当营养价值的适当食物。尽管食用EcM真菌具有高度的多样性，并有望具有重要的营养特性，但很少有研究关注其在Tshopo（刚果民主共和国）的使用和推广。这项研究提供了来自扬比亚比人与生物圈保护区和横河保护区的食用外生菌根雨林真菌的原始人类学和多样性数据。方法食用真菌的清单遵循当前的分类法。分类单元收集在不同类型雨林中的地块中。每个分类单元都由植物标本室的参考样本支持。有关当地消费的EcM真菌的人类学数据，是从生活在扬比亚比的人类与生物圈保护区和横河保护区附近的随机选择的人中收集的。人们使用半结构化问卷进行了访谈。采访活动涉及160名线人，都是从6个不同族裔社区中随机选择的。结果结果表明，扬比比生物圈保护区和洋子森林保护区的雨林提供了相对较高的食用真菌数量，超过了当地人的实际使用量。混合森林林中腐生性食用菌的多样性最高（p值<0.001），而在优势林中腐生性和EcM真菌的数量没有显着差异（p值> 0.05）。尽管可访问，但这种可再生自然资源尚未得到充分利用。尽管在以外生菌根树为主的原始森林中可以买到各种各样的EcM真菌，但当地人的主要兴趣是退化混交林地区的腐生真菌。结论对EcM真菌缺乏当地兴趣可能与人们要收集它们需要距离相当远。结果，来自Tshopo地区的可食用EcM真菌代表了一种潜在的有趣但未被充分利用的资源。