Suchergebnisse

Public demand for harvesting wild edible mushrooms has risen in recent decades and currently affects many forested areas around the world. The idea of introducing permits for users has been conceived as a tool for ecosystem management. The problem is that policy-makers lack the necessary means to help guide them when establishing prices for such harvesting permits. Valuing the recreational benefits which mushroom harvesters derive from harvesting wild edible mushrooms may provide certain guidelines as to how much people would be willing to pay and may also justify future payments levied on harvesters. The aim of the present article is to estimate a model for determining citizens' willingness to pay for a harvesting permit in a forest in Andalusia (Spain) using contingent valuation methods. Results show that mean willingness to pay is 22.61 Euros (USD28.18) per harvester and season. This amount depends on several socioeconomic factors and preferences related to harvesters' experiences. ; The authors wish to thank the Andalusian Regional Government and the Agency for Water and Environment in Andalusia for their financial support, and would also like to express their gratitude to the staff members María Isabel Martín and Luis Guzmán for helping in the field work in a group of agroforestry farms within the framework of the RECAMAN project (Contract NET165602). We acknowledge support by the CSIC Open Access Publication Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI).

The unprecedented price inflation of Black truffles, recently exceeding 5000 Euro kg−1 (in Zurich), is a combined result of increasing global demands and decreasing Mediterranean harvests. Since the effects of long-term irrigation and climate variation on symbiotic fungus-host interaction and the development of belowground microbes are poorly understood, the establishment and maintenance of truffle plantations remains a risky venture. Using 49 years of continuous harvest and climate data from Spain, France and Italy, we demonstrate how truffle production rates, between November and March, significantly rely on previous June–August precipitation totals, whereas too much autumnal rainfall affects the subsequent winter harvest negatively. Despite a complex climate-host-fungus relationship, our findings show that southern European truffle yields can be predicted at highest probability (r = 0.78, t-stat = 5.645, prob = 0.000 01). Moreover, we demonstrate the reliability of national truffle inventories since 1970, and question the timing and dose of many of the currently operating irrigation systems. Finally, our results suggest that Black truffle mycorrhizal colonization of host fine roots, the sexualisation of mycelium, and the formation of peridium are strongly controlled by natural summer rainfall. Recognising the drought-vulnerability of southern Europe's rapidly growing truffle sector, we encourage a stronger liaison between farmers, politicians and scientists to maintain ecological and economic sustainability under predicted climate change in the Mediterranean basin. ; Published

The unprecedented price inflation of Black truffles, recently exceeding 5000 Euro kg−1 (in Zurich), is a combined result of increasing global demands and decreasing Mediterranean harvests. Since the effects of long-term irrigation and climate variation on symbiotic fungus-host interaction and the development of belowground microbes are poorly understood, the establishment and maintenance of truffle plantations remains a risky venture. Using 49 years of continuous harvest and climate data from Spain, France and Italy, we demonstrate how truffle production rates, between November and March, significantly rely on previous June–August precipitation totals, whereas too much autumnal rainfall affects the subsequent winter harvest negatively. Despite a complex climate-host-fungus relationship, our findings show that southern European truffle yields can be predicted at highest probability (r = 0.78, t-stat = 5.645, prob = 0.000 01). Moreover, we demonstrate the reliability of national truffle inventories since 1970, and question the timing and dose of many of the currently operating irrigation systems. Finally, our results suggest that Black truffle mycorrhizal colonization of host fine roots, the sexualisation of mycelium, and the formation of peridium are strongly controlled by natural summer rainfall. Recognising the drought-vulnerability of southern Europe's rapidly growing truffle sector, we encourage a stronger liaison between farmers, politicians and scientists to maintain ecological and economic sustainability under predicted climate change in the Mediterranean basin. ; This work was supported by the European Mycological Institute (EMI), as well as the WSL-internal project 'Black Dynamite'. UB received funding from the project 'SustES - Adaptation strategies for sustainable ecosystem services and food security under adverse environmental conditions' (CZ.02.1.01/0.0 /0.0/ 16_019/0000797). DO received support from the Secretaria d'Universitats i Recerca del Departament d'Economia i Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya through the program of Doctorats Industrials. The authors are very grateful to The European Truffle Group (GETT), entity composed by French, Spanish and Italian growers' federations, for its considerable help with truffle production data.

Integrating fungal-based ecosystem services into forest management planning and policy-making requires quantitative knowledge of the yields of fungal sporocarps and their environmental drivers. The aim of this study was to predict edible mushroom yield in Pinus pinaster forests of Central Spain, based on a 17-year data series. Two-stage mixed-effects models were used to examine the effect of predictors on mushroom occurrence and yield separately with the aim of providing further insight into the ecological system. Changes in seasonal precipitation represented the main weather-related driver affecting sporocarp emergence and production, since they were both positively influenced by late summer and early autumn precipitation. Soil acidity positively influenced Lactarius yield. Stand age and sandy soils showed a negative influence on mushroom production. The diversity of drivers became more apparent at the fungal species level. The models can be used for predicting the production of edible fungi under different meteorological and site conditions. ; This study was partially funded by the research projects AGL2012-40035-C03-01 and AGL2012-40035-C03-03 (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain, Secretaría de Estado de Investigaci on, Desarrollo e Innovaci on), by the Micosylva þ project (Interreg IVB SUDOE SOE3/P2/E533), and by the Mycological Programme of Castilla y Leon (www.micocyl.es). This study also received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme within the framework of the Multi- FUNGtionality Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (IFEF) under grant agreement No 655815. This work further benefited from the Erasmus Mundus Master Course MEDFOR (Mediterranean Forestry and Natural Resources Management) (520137-1-2011-1- PT-ERA MUNDUS-EMMC), which provided one scholarship to Mr. Zelalem Mengiste Taye. The inventory and monitoring of the sample plots was funded by Junta de Castilla y Leon and ADEMA from 1997 to 2007, and by Junta de Castilla y Leon and CESEFOR from 2007 to 2014.

Despite the assumption that mushroom fruiting is dependent on climate conditions, recent changes in temperature and precipitation regimes in Mediterranean-type ecosystems have opened new questions about how climate changes impact epigeous sporocarps yields. Here, we described the epigeous fungal sporocarp yield anomalies together with temperature and precipitation fluctuations that have triggered atypical fungal production peaks during the last 20 years in different forest ecosystems of Mediterranean Spain. We used the largest standardized, spatio-temporal epigeous sporocarp collection dataset available in Mediterranean-type forest ecosystems and climates. Two clear positive yield anomalies were found in 2006 and 2014, representing more than 270% and 210% increase, respectively, in comparison with timeseries mean annual fungal yields. Late-summer-early-autumn precipitation was the most influential variable triggering these extreme mushroom production peaks in comparison with temperature. This suggests that fungal fruiting is sensitive to late-summer-early-autumn precipitation pulses, producing discrete yield pulses when conditions are optimal, which are interspersed among periods of limited water resource availability and lower yields. ; This study was partially funded by the research project AGL2012-40035-C03 (MCI Spain), by VA206U13 (Junta-CyL) and European project StarTree-Multipurpose-trees (No-311919). JGA was supported by Juan de la Cierva-fellowship (IJCI-2014-21393), SdM by the European Union's Horizon 2020 MultiFUNGtionality Marie Skłodowska-Curie (IF-EF No-655815) and JAB benefit from Serra-Hunter Fellow provided by the Generalitat of Catalunya.

The Périgord black truffle is an exclusive culinary delicacy, but its Mediterranean harvests have declined, despite cultivation efforts since the 1970s. The role of long-term irrigation, symbiotic fungus-host interaction, and microbial belowground progression remain poorly understood, because generally too short experimental settings miss the necessary degree of real world complexity and reliable information from truffle orchards is limited. Here, we conduct the first dendrochronological and wood anatomical assessment of 295 holm oaks, which have been growing under different irrigation intensities in the world's largest truffle orchard in Spain. The relationships between different climatic variables (monthly temperature means and precipitation totals) and dendro-parameters (ring width, vessel count and vessel size) of the oak hosts are utilized to disentangle direct and indirect drivers of truffle fruit body production. Irrigation at medium - instead of high - intensity is most beneficial for oak growth. Non-irrigated trees reveal overall lower stem increments. Warmer temperatures from February to April and wetter conditions from May to July enhance host vitality and possibly also its interplay with fungi symbionts via increased fine root production and mycorrhizal colonization. Adequately irrigated Mediterranean orchards may counteract some of the drought-induced natural truffle decline, and help stabilizing rural tourism, regional agriculture and global markets. ; Supported by the WSL-internal DITREC project, the Ernst Göhner Foundation, the ClimFun project of the Norwegian RC (No. 225043), the project AGL2012-40035-C03 (Government of Spain), the project Micosylva+ (Interreg IVB SUDOE SOE3/P2/E533), the Government of Castilla y León, ARAID, the project Xilva (CGL2011-26654, Economy and Competitiveness Ministry), as well as the Operational Program of Education for Competitiveness of Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (No. CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0248).

19 Pags.- 5 Figs.- 5 Tabls. © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Under a Creative Commons license Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). ; National accounting either ignores or fails to give due values to the ecosystem services, products, incomes and environmental assets of a country. To overcome these shortcomings, we apply spatially-explicit extended accounts that incorporate a novel environmental income indicator, which we test in the forests of Andalusia (Spain). Extended accounts incorporate nine farmer activities (timber, cork, firewood, nuts, livestock grazing, conservation forestry, hunting, residential services and private amenity) and seven government activities (fire services, free access recreation, free access mushroom, carbon, landscape conservation, threatened biodiversity and water yield). To make sure the valuation remains consistent with standard accounts, we simulate exchange values for non-market final forest product consumption in order to measure individual ecosystem services and environmental income indicators. Manufactured capital and environmental assets are also integrated. When comparing extended to standard accounts, our results are 3.6 times higher for gross value added. These differences are explained primarily by the omission in the standard accounts of carbon activities and undervaluation of private amenity, free access recreation, landscape and threatened biodiversity ecosystem services. Extended accounts measure a value of Andalusian forest ecosystem services 5.4 times higher than that measured using the valuation criteria of standard accounts. ; This RECAMAN project research has received financial support from Agency of Environment and Water (AMAYA); Department of Environment and Territory Planning (CMAYOT) (contract No NET165602). ; Peer reviewed