If you indulge in truffles, or porcini and chanterelle mushrooms, you have enjoyed a product of ectomycorrhizal fungi. Forming symbiotic relationships with plants – including pine, birch, oak and willow tree species – these fungi have existed for millions of years, their sprawling filaments supporting ecosystems throughout their reach.
According to research from Stanford University, published Jan. 21 in the Journal of Biogeography, by the year 2070, climate change could cause the local loss of over a quarter of ectomycorrhizal fungal species from 3.5 million square kilometers of North American pine forests – an area twice the size of Alaska.
“These are critical organisms for the functioning and the health of forests,” said Kabir Peay, associate professor of biology in Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences and senior author of the study. “We have evidence to suggest that these fungi are as susceptible to climate change as other kinds of organisms and their response may be even more important.”
Previously, the Peay lab had mapped the global distributions of forests where trees associate with different types of symbiotic fungi, finding that over 60 percent of all trees on Earth currently associate with ectomycorrhizal fungi. Now, by learning more about the communities these fungi form in different climates, the researchers projected how climate change might affect them in the future.
Read more at Stanford University
Image: Stanford researchers gathered soil samples from dozens of North American forests, including Pike National Forest in Colorado. They used these samples to better understand the influence of climate change on symbiotic soil microbes that control the health of forests. (Credit: Kabir Peay)