Expeditions

The first mycological expedition was made to Transcarpathian region by Erast Parmasto in 1956. A year later the second collecting trip was organized by Parmasto and Ain Raitviir to Komi ASSR in Russia. These first journeys were followed by ca 150 expeditions in mycologically uninvestigated remote regions of former Soviet Union (see the map of expeditions in Eurasia 1956-1992)

Certain places appeared to have rich and interesting mycobiota, so these were visited repeatedly, e.g. Russian Far East in Primorye and Khabarovsk Territories, especially in Kedrovaya Pad, Lazo, Ussuriysk and Bolshekhekhtshirsk Nature Reserves. Some unique expeditions were made to the Republic of Sakha, Chukotka and Magadan Region, where it was only possible to use river-ships or small airplanes for transportation.

The destination area of many collecting trips was in Central Asia, due to its habitats in mountains and deserts, where taxonomical investigations resulted with numerous newly decribed species and genera. The Tien-Shan Mountains in Kyrgyzstan (Terskey Ala-Too, Chatkal and Naryntau Ranges) were visited many times. In Tajikistan Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve, the Pamir Montains (Darvaz and Ishkashim Range) and Pamiro-Alai Montains (Hissar and Peter the First Range) were investigated. The deserts of Usbekistan and Turkmenistan were visited repeatedly, mainly by agaricologists.

Several expeditions were organised to Russian Siberia, for example in Taimyria or Altai Mountains and Transbaikal area. In 1970-s the mycobiota of Caucasian Nature Reserve was investigated in a special project.

The logistics of those expeditions were quite difficult due to the deficiency of detailed maps, therefore many local people working in forestry or diverse research institutions contributed in introducing the habitats, places for accommodation as well as arranging transport. Every specimen collected with such effort is valuable and our collection open them for scientific loans.