Bovista acuminata is a species with a narrow ecology preferences, mainly occuring in brook gullies among mosses covering big living trees, roots and logs or stones in old deciduous and coniferous forests, in in temperate and subtropics of north hemisphere. Distribution area is fragmented. In many cases habitats quality is getting worse due forest fires and due to intensive land use. Distribution area reduce due to deforestation. There are not more 75 localities are known worldwide, and not more 30 finds were documented last 50 years.
Decline in population size of more than 30% over the last 50 years proposed. The species is assessed Vulnerable.

Lycoperdon acuminatum Bosc ( 1851)
Lycoperdon pyriforme Shaeff. ex Pers. var. acuminatum (Bosc) F. Šmarda (1958)
Bryoperdon acuminatum (Bosc) Vizzini, in Vizzini & Ercole (2017)

Species with fragmented areal and with a narrow ecology preferences, growing among mosses covering big living trees, roots and logs as well as stones in old deciduous and coniferous forests.

Wide distributed in temperate and subtropics of north hemisphere, but areal fragmented.
Finds of Bovista acuminata in Europe pointed in Flora, 1958, are doubtful (Kreisel 1967). In Georgia pointed by B. Vasilkov,1954 (LE 2065). In Russia known from Caucasus, Altai and Far East (Sosin 1973; Rebriev 2007; Rebriev 2020; LE and VLA materials).
According to images on GBIF source (https://www.gbif.org/species/3333308) some finds in North America are doubtful (globose or pyriforme shape of basidiomes; sometimes on litter, not on mosses).

Scattered finds in all area. There are not more 75 localities are known, and some of them are lost. Last 50 years not more 30 finds were documented (GBIF and own data). The biggest not-fragmented habatats are south and south-east of N.America, south-east of Asia and Caucasus. The population is decreasing due deforestation, habitat degradation (forest fires, land using).
Therefore this species can be considered as declining.

Species with a narrow ecology preferences, mainly occuring in brook gullies growing among mosses covering larger trees, roots and logs (or stones sometimes) in old deciduous and coniferous forests in temperate and subtropics of north hemisphere. Basidiomes can be occurs at a height of several meters (2-3 and more) above the ground. It pointed on Quercus, Fagus, Carpinus, Ulmus, Alnus, Carya, Magnolia, Juniperus, Cupressus. Species looks like not a parasitic but bryophilous. Growing on poor substrates may indicate low competitiveness and / or narrow specialization (for example assotiation with some taxa of mosses).

Loss of habitats due to deforestation; loss of individuals due to forest fires; habitats degradation due to intensive land use.
For example, some known in Russian Caucasus localities (Pyatigorsk vicinities) were lost due to deforestation: LE 2066, 2071, 213239.
In reserve “Sikhote-Alinsky” (Primorsky krai, Russia) due to fires, the coniferous and broad-leaved forests is decreasing. There is also a mass drying up of oaks due to droughts and an increase in the activity of pathogenic fungi (Plants, fungi and lichens…, 2016).

We need in conservation of known localities, monitoring of the state of habitats and populations. Organization of Important Fungal Areas with a high protected status. Conservation in pure cultures collections.
In Russia this species pointed from reserves “Altaisky” (Altai Republic), “Sikhote-Alinsky” (Primorsky krai) and from reserve “Cavkazsky” (Krasnodarsky krai). It included in Russian regional Red lists of Altai Republic, 2017 and Kemerovo Oblast, 2012 (Gorbunova, Rebriev, 2017). Recommended in Red Book of Russian Federation (Svetasheva et al., 2017).

Ecology and physiology study, detailed distribution research, search of new localities.

Flora ČSR. B. 1. Gasteromycetes (Ed. A. Pilat). 1958. Praha, 836 p. [in Czech].
GBIF.org (26 April 2021) GBIF Occurrence Download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.zhym67
Gorbunova I.A., Rebriev Yu.A. (2017) Rare species of gasteromycetes of Russia // Rastitel’nyj mir Asiatskoj Rossii 2(26): 3-9 [in Russian]. DOI:10.21782/RMAR1995-2449-2017-2(3-9)
Kemerovo region red book. 2012. 208 p. [in Russian].
Kreisel H. L. Taxonomich-pelanzengeographische monographie der gattung Bovista. Verlag von J. Cramer, 1967. 244 p.
Kreisel, H., Karasch P. 2005. About Bovista acuminata and Morganella subincarnata - two remarkable collections of Gasteromycetes from the alps. Mycol. Bav. 8: 9-15.
Plants, fungi and lichens of the Sikhote-Alin Reserve (ed. E.A. Pimenova) (2016). Vladivostok: Dalnauka. 557 p.
Rebriev Yu. A. 2007. Gasteromycetes of Adjugea. Trudy Yuzhnogo nauchnogo tzentra Rossiyskoy Akademii Nauk. 3: 118-123 [in Russian].
Sosin P. E. 1973. A guide to the Gasteromycetes of the USSR. Leningrad: Nauka. 164 p. [in Russian].
Svetasheva et al. (2017) Proposals for the Russian Federation Red Book forthcoming edition: agaricoid and gasteroid basidiomycetes [in Russian]. DOI: 10.14427/cmr.2017.vi.05
Vasilkov B.P. 1954. Some interesting and new gasteromycetes species in the USSR. Trudy Botanicheskogo Instituta Komarova Akademii Nauk SSSR. Ser. 2, issue 9: 447–464. [in Russian].
Vizzini A. & Ercole E. Detecting the phylogenetic position of Bovista acuminata (Agaricales, Basidiomycota) by an ITS-LSU combined analysis: the new genus Bryoperdon and revisitation of Lycoperdon subgen. Apioperdon (https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.299.1.5)
https://www.gbif.org/species/3333308
Rebriev Yu.A., Ge Zai-Wei, Voronina E.Y., Fomina E.S., Nazarenko A.V. 2020 An annotated key to the Bovista (Lycoperdaceae, Basidiomycota) species in Russia // Phytotaxa 464(1): 1–28. doi: 10.11646/phytotaxa.464.1.1
LE and VLA herbaria.