4.7 Article

Altitudinal upwards shifts in fungal fruiting in the Alps

Journal

Publisher

ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.2348

Keywords

fungi; distributional shifts; global warming; fungal fruiting; altitudinal gradient; ecological response

Funding

  1. Research council of Norway [ES500181]
  2. Swiss National Science Foundation

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Many plant and animal species are changing their latitudinal and/or altitudinal distributions in response to climate change, but whether fungi show similar changes is largely unknown. Here, we use historical fungal fruit body records from the European Alps to assess altitudinal changes in fungal fruiting between 1960 and 2010. We observe that many fungal species are fruiting at significantly higher elevations in 2010 compared to 1960, and especially so among soil-dwelling fungi. Wood-decay fungi, being dependent on the presence of one or a few host trees, show a slower response. Species growing at higher elevations changed their altitudinal fruiting patterns significantly more than lowland species. Environmental changes in high altitudes may lead to proportionally stronger responses, since high-altitude species live closer to their physiological limit. These aboveground changes in fruiting patterns probably mirror corresponding shifts in below-ground fungal communities, suggesting parallel shifts in important ecosystem functions.

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