1. Marine fungal resources

1.1 The "concept" of marine mushrooms

In the terrestrial environment, fungi are key players in many biogeochemical processes, particularly in the recycling of organic matter. Ironically, while knowledge of the diversity and ecological roles of terrestrial fungi has been growing steadily in recent decades, relatively few studies have focused on marine fungi, probably due to a biased view of fungi as strictly terrestrial micro-organisms. Over the last twenty years, interest in fungal communities in marine environments has grown, and the coupling of approaches ranging from microscopy to "omics" (metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, metabolomics) and high-throughput culture systems (also known as "culturomics") has enabled a paradigm shift, shedding light on the diversity, activity, ecological...