Prior to each International Mycological Congress, there is a Guiding vote on formal proposals to amend the Code that are to be considered at the Fungal Nomenclature Session (FNS) of the particular IMC. The Guiding vote is organised by the Fungal Nomenclature Bureau (FNB). The Guiding vote is non-binding, but proposals that receive 75% or more no votes are automatically rejected by the FNS unless re-introduced by a proposer and five seconders.
Eligibility to participate in the Guiding vote is mainly via membership of organisations as set out in Provision 8 of Division III of the Code. The organisations are the International Mycological Association (IMA) along with the IMA Sustaining Member Organizations and the IMA Member Organizations, but not the Regional Member Mycological Organizations. For the purposes of the Guiding vote, members of the International Mycological Association (IMA) are those that are registered to attend the International Mycological Congress at which the proposals will be considered by the FNS (i.e. the next IMC, which for the 2018 Guiding vote is IMC11).
The Fungal Nomenclature Bureau may approve additional organisations. For the FNS at IMC11, the FNB has approved the following additional eligible organizations: all with an international or continental scope:
- African Mycological Society
- La Asociación Latinoamericana de Micología
- International Association for Lichenology
- International Commission on the Taxonomy of Fungi
It is the individual members of the eligible organizations (rather than the organizations themselves) that participate in the Guiding vote.
In addition, authors of proposals and members of the Nomenclature Committee for Fungi are entitled to vote in the Guiding Vote.
Irrespective of how many categories a person falls under, each person has one vote in the Guiding vote.
The Guiding vote is on-line, and a link to the ballot will be provided to all eligible organisations, for distribution to their members.
For IMC11, the Guiding vote opend 24 May and closed on 17 June 2018. Please find the report below.
The link for the 2018 Guiding vote is: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/DT7RQGUIDEVOTE.
Those wishing to participate in the Guiding vote are advised to read the original proposals and the Synopsis of proposals which has been prepared by the Secretaries of the FNB.
- Hawksworth DL (ed.) (2018) Proposals for consideration at IMC11 to modify provisions solely related to fungi in the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants. IMA Fungus 9(1): (i)–(vii).
- May TW, Redhead SA (2018). Synopsis of proposals on fungal Nomenclature: a review of the proposals concerning Chapter F of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants submitted to the XI International Mycological Congress, 2018. IMA Fungus 9(1): (ix)–(xiv).
Please note that only members of eligible organisation are entitled to vote, and the ballot requires that you provide your name, and the eligibility category that you fall under. Results of the Guiding vote will be published as aggregated totals, without any information on individuals.
Report of the Guiding Vote for FNS IMC11
Anyone wishing to clarify their eligibility or having difficulties with the Guiding vote on-line ballot should contact the Secretary, Fungal Nomenclature Bureau, Dr Tom May. tom [dot] may [at] rbg [dot] vic [dot] gov [dot] au