Edible sporocarp production by age class in a Scots pine stand in Northern Spain

Abstract

With the aim of increasing knowledge of community structure, dynamics and production of ectomycorrhizal fungi, edible sporocarp yields were monitored between 1995 and 2004 in a Pinus sylvestris stand in the northeast zone of the Iberian Peninsula. A random sampling design was performed by stand age class according to the forest management plan: 0-15, 16-30, 31-50, 51-70 and over 71-years-old. Eighteen 150 m plots were established and sampled weekly every year from September to December. One hundred and nineteen taxa belonging to 51 genera were collected, 40 of which were edible and represented 74% of the total biomass. Boletus edulis, Lactarius deliciosus, Cantharellus cibarius and Tricholoma portentosum sporocarps, which are considered to be of high commercial value, represented 34% of the total production. B. edulis and L. deliciosus were the most remarkable and abundant species, and both were collected in more than 60% of the samplings. B. edulis fructified every year of the experiment; its mean production was 40 kg/ha and year and its maximum productivity was more than 94 kg/ha in 1998. The age class with the largest production of this taxa was the fourth (51-70 years), with 70 kg/ha. L. deliciosus only failed to fructify one autumn (2000); its mean production was almost 10 kg/ha and its maximum productivity close to 30 kg/ha in 1997. The maximum productivity of this species was found in the second (16-30 years) and fifth (71-90 years) stand age classes, with 18 and 16 kg/ha, respectively. Advances in this field can certainly offer new insights into factors affecting sporocarp production.

Influence of Climate and Economic Variables on the Aggregated Supply of a Wild Edible Fungi (Lactarius deliciosus)

“…So, increases in the mean temperature in the different sites where it is assumed that these mushrooms have been picked would increase the amount of mushrooms placed on sale. The literature presents cases in which this hypothesis is confirmed [26], but in the particular case of the saffron milk cap, some studies done in Spain do not show any significant relationship between the yield of this mushroom and temperature [39], except that the arrival of the winter frosts limits their yield [50]. Other authors have found correlations among mushroom yields and temperatures, although the sign of the correlations, whether positive [51] or negative [52], is not clear.…”

Lactarius deliciosus Fr. soil extraradical mycelium correlates with stand fruitbody productivity and is increased by forest thinning

“…Despite the advances of the modeling process, high variability of mushroom yields, affected mainly by weather conditions (Martínez-Peña et al, 2012a, 2012b restricts the use of sporocarp yields as a good indicator for observing the effect of changes in fungal patterns occurring in the ecosystems. Our results are a first step for using a new dependent variable to model this process.…”

“…Rainfall and temperature are critical, but their timing also appears as a crucial variable, and there is substantial annual variation in these and other climatic factors (Martínez de Aragón et al, 2007;Büntgen et al, 2015;Alfranca et al, 2015). Site factors, such as soil characteristics, altitude, slope or aspect and stand structure, including forest vegetation, stand age or stand density will also influence mushroom species richness and abundance (Martínez-Peña et al, 2012a, 2012b.…”

“…Although L. deliciosus can be found in a wide range of forest age classes (Martínez-Peña et al, 2012a;Bonet et al, 2004) characterized as an ECM colonizer of younger forests (Ágreda et al, 2014). The best yields of L. group deliciosus (this includes L. deliciosus, L. vinosus and L. sanguifluus which are commonly marketed together) come from relatively open forests growing at their highest growth efficiency, although not necessarily in their youngest ages (Bonet et al, 2004(Bonet et al, , 2012.…”

Participatory Goal Programming in Forest Management: An Application Integrating Several Ecosystem Services

“…Mushroom production has been estimated by performing a random sampling per stand-age class according to the forest's management [17] from 1995-2013 in trough areas of Pinar Grande Forest (Figure 3). Sampling was performed in the most productive season (autumn) on a weekly basis from weeks 35-50 every year.…”