Emergence of morel (Morchella) and pixie cup (Geopyxis carbonaria) ascocarps in response to the intensity of forest floor combustion during a wildfire

Abstract

We studied the density of ascocarps (mushrooms) of morels (Morchella) and pixie cups (Geo-pyxis carbonaria) as a function of postfire duff (forest floor organic layer) depth in the first 4 y after a wildfire. The great majority of ascocarps of both species appeared in the first summer (2004) after an Aug 2003 fire in predominantly pine-spruce montane stands in Kootenay National Park, British Columbia. The spatial distribution of the ascocarps of both species was strongly biased toward (i) microsites with thin postfire duff and (ii) proximity to standing burned tree trunks. The bases of ascocarps of both species invariably were found just below the surface of the mineral soil. A field experiment in nearby intact forest showed that complete or partial duff removal in the absence of damage to the roots or crown did not lead to ascocarps of either species. We conclude that for both fungal species an unusually large abundance of ascocarps simultaneously requires damage to the associated trees and major duff reduction.

Wildfire severity reduces richness and alters composition of soil fungal communities in boreal forests of western Canada

“…The ectomycorrhizal Meliniomyces bicolor was also found associated with roots of different hosts after fires in black spruce forests in Alaska (Bent et al, ; Hewitt et al, ). The Pezizomycetous G. carbonaria was among the most common taxa in our sequences and we often observed these distinctive orange cups on mineral soil associated with Morchella , a pattern also seen after fire in British Columbia, Canada (Greene et al, ). However, G. carbonaria sequences were not highly correlated with the fire severity axis on the PCoA and was among the most frequent taxa in the unburned soils (Table S4), suggesting that it has survived in the soil through the fire disturbance.…”

“…Mycorrhizal symbioses can determine growth and survivorship of individual plants (Bever, Platt, & Morton, 2012;Smith & Read, 2008), which play into the myriad of interactions that determine plant community structure. Many boreal forest fungi are fire-adapted or fire-dependent, possessing heat-resistant structures such as thick-walled sclerotia like those developed by morel mushrooms, Morchella (Dahlberg, Schimmel, Taylor, & Johannesson, 2001;Greene, Hesketh, & Pounden, 2010), or surviving in spore banks (Glassman, Levine, DiRocco, Battles, & Bruns, 2016) or buried roots (Hewitt, Bent, Hollingsworth, Chapin, & Taylor, 2013). However, fires can modify soil fungal community structure and induce fruiting bodies of ectomycorrhizal and saprotrophic fungi in boreal forests (Dahlberg et al, 2001;Greene et al, 2010;Treseder et al, 2004).…”

Soil Bacterial and Fungal Response to Wildfires in the Canadian Boreal Forest Across a Burn Severity Gradient

“…[82] or Geopyxis sp. [83]; Supplemental Note 4) or bacteria [25,79,81,84–85] (Supplemental Note 5). Just like well-established fire-response strategies for plants, there are likely a series of fire-response strategies for microbes (conceptual model illustrated in Figure 7).…”

Primer registro de la familia Morchellaceae (Ascomycota: Pezizales) para Colombia

“…En el hemisferio norte, se ha reportado su fructificación después de incendios forestales (Pilz et al 2007, Greene et al 2010, Keefer et al 2010, Du et al 2015, aspecto que no comparte el clado Esculenta (O'Donnell et al 2011, Du et al 2012). Adicionalmente Du et al (2015) encontró que las especies incluidas en el grupo Elata son capaces de adaptarse a bajas temperaturas, por lo que se distribuyen preferentemente en altitudes superiores a los 2000 m de altitud mientras que el clado Esculenta prolifera principalmente por debajo de 1200 m. Estas condiciones explicarían por qué las especie del grupo Elata poseen una mayor distribución geográfica, al tolerar mejor ambientes con bajas temperaturas (Svenning 2003, Pildain et al 2014, Du et al 2015.…”