Trait‐dependent distributional shifts in fruiting of common British fungi

Abstract

Despite the dramatic phenological responses of fungal fruiting to recent climate warming, it is unknown whether spatial distributions of fungi have changed and to what extent such changes are influenced by fungal traits, such as ectomycorrhizal (ECM) or saprotrophic lifestyles, spore characteristics, or fruit body size.Our overall aim was to understand how climate and fungal traits determine whether and how species-specific fungal fruit body abundances have shifted across latitudes over time, using the UK national database of fruiting records. The data employed were recorded over 45 yr , and include 853 278 records of Agaricales, Boletales and Russulales, though we focus only on the most common species (with more than 3000 records each). The georeferenced observations were analysed by a Bayesian inference as a Gaussian additive model with a specification following a joint species distribution model. We used an offset, random contributions and fixed effects to isolate different potential biases from the trait-specific interactions with latitude/climate and time. Our main aim was assessed by examination of the three-way-interaction of trait, predictor (latitude or climate) and time.The results show a strong trait-specific shift in latitudinal abundance through time, as ECM species have become more abundant relative to saprotrophic species in the north. Along precipitation gradients, phenology was important, in that species with shorter fruiting seasons have declined markedly in abundance in oceanic regions, whereas species with longer seasons have become relatively more common overall. These changes in fruit body distributions are correlated with temperature and rainfall, which act directly on both saprotrophic and ECM fungi, and also indirectly on ECM fungi, through altered photosynthate allocation from their hosts. If these distributional changes reflect fungal activity, there will be important consequences for the responses of forest ecosystems to changing climate, through effects on primary production and nutrient cycling.

Continental‐scale macrofungal assemblage patterns correlate with climate, soil carbon and nitrogen deposition

“…The ectomycorrhizal pattern related to soil organic carbon and was less geographically structured, though similar to that found by Gange et al. () in the UK. While our results cannot determine causation, different feeding strategies may explain the correlation of nitrogen with saprotrophic fungal assemblages and soil organic carbon (SOC) with ectomycorrhizal fungal assemblages (Appendix S2).…”

“…The saprotrophs displayed assemblage patterns related to a gradient of N deposition, which itself reflected oceanicity-continentality patterning, and which is a likely proxy for anthropogenic impacts on the environment. The ectomycorrhizal pattern related to soil organic carbon and was less geographically structured, though similar to that found by Gange et al (2017) in the UK. While our results cannot determine causation, different feeding strategies may explain the correlation of nitrogen with saprotrophic fungal assemblages and soil ANDREW ET AL.…”

Open‐source data reveal how collections‐based fungal diversity is sensitive to global change

“…We found reasonable support for increased accuracy in modeling fungal diversity via temporally dynamic covariates, which we expected as it is well established that species‐specific fruiting is cued by episodic changes in, especially, precipitation and temperature (e.g., Andrew et al., ; Gange et al., ). Environmental variables that fluctuated on finer spatial scales and whose relationships to fungal biology acted on smaller scales than overall means (e.g., daily temperature and precipitation) were especially strengthened by the inclusion of a dynamic covariate for analyses.…”

“…While inevitable for these analyses, we recommend further investigation at smaller spatial resolutions, if it is possible to remedy existing sampling biases (that prohibited us here). More localized comparative studies could also provide clarification (Gange et al., ).…”

Multiscale patterns of rarity in fungi, inferred from fruiting records

“…However, such model fits might still be indicative of incomplete or imperfect sampling (McGill, ; Ulrich et al, ), particularly given that neither species accumulation curve was asymptotic. A further complication is that spatial distributions of saprotrophic and ectomycorrhizal fungi in the UK have changed in recent years, correlated with changes in temperature and rainfall (Gange et al, ).…”