Abstract:

Both species concept and recognition are fundamental topics in the studies of taxonomy and biodiversity, and also in biological researches. There has never been any unanimous and clear standard for species dilimitation and, thus, taxonomy has more or less been regarded as subjective and often seen as art rather than scientific research. The backgrounds and the current status of three commonly used species concepts, i.e. morphological, biological and phylogenetic species concepts, in the research of fungal taxonomy are briefly reviewed here. The application of the three species concepts are discussed with examples in fungal taxonomy, especially on interlaces and incongruences between the concepts. The materials presented here may provide some useful information for the study on taxonomy and the investigation on species concept.

Key words: species, species concept, species separation, fungi