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The isolation of saprophytic basidiomycetes from soil involves selective inhibitors, an indicator substrate and soil particle washing. The washed organic particles are plated on a medium containing lignin, guaiacol and benomyl to reduce mold growth and allow detection of basidiomycetes producing laccase. The method is useful for the investigation of biodiversity of soil basidiomycetes and gives organisms for bioremediation of soils contaminated with pesticides.

The communities of soil basidiomycetes in agroecosystems that differ in tillage history at the Kellog Biological Station Long-Term Ecological Research site near Battle Creek, Michigan are analyzed. Results reveal that only 24 of 241 species had 99% or greater sequence similarity to named reference sequences in GenBank, and several clades with multiple 'species' could not be identified at the genus level by phylogenetic comparisons with named sequences.