In Australia, research specifically on wood-inhabiting fungi has been instigated historically by the economic importance of
timber (Simpson 1996) and concentrated on wood decay in a pathological sense rather than ecological (see Refshauge 1938; Rudman 1964; Da Costa 1979). There are no ‘Red data lists’ (rarity, endangerment and distribution), which means that there are no focal species to aid in conservation and management protocols as in Europe and the USA. In the Northern Hemisphere, polypore species are often a focal point of studies, not only for biodiversity (e.g. Norstedt et al. 2001; Sippola et al. 2001; Penttila¨ et al. 2004; Hottola & Siitonen 2008), but also for fungal-invertebrate interactions (e.g. Araya 1993; Kaila et al. 1994; Johansson et al. 2006). Some polypore species are considered to be indicators of old growth forest (Kotiranta & Niemela¨ 1996) and important for the persistence of specialist insects (Komonen 2001).