Chapter 9. Climate Change: Fungal Responses and Effects
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9 State of the World’s Fungi State of the World’s Fungi 2018 9. Climate change: Fungal responses and effects Martin I. Bidartondoa,b, Christopher Ellisc, Håvard Kauserudd, Peter G. Kennedye, Erik A. Lilleskovf, Laura M. Suza, Carrie Andrewg a Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK; b Imperial College London, UK; c Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, UK; d University of Oslo, Norway; e University of Minnesota, USA; f USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, USA; g Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Switzerland 62 Challenges Climate change: Fungal responses and effects Climate change is already impacting fungal reproduction, distribution, physiology and activity What impact is climate change having on fungal communities across the globe and where are our greatest knowledge gaps? stateoftheworldsfungi.org/2018/climate-change.html Climate change: Fungal responses and effects 6363 64 Challenges zones a 1°C increase will result in an upward shift of mean Given the important roles, both annual temperature isotherms by nearly 200 m. Hot days beneficial and detrimental, that will increase and cold days will decrease. Patterns of rainfall and snowfall are also shifting, and extreme disturbance fungi play in all aspects of life events such as hurricanes and fires are also likely to increase. These changes will affect the evolution of species on Earth, it is critical to consider and their ability to adapt to, migrate between, and reside within ecosystems. In fact, some climate impact is already the impact of climate change apparent: fungal reproduction, geographic distributions, on this kingdom. physiology and activity have changed markedly in the last few decades, through direct climate change effects on fungal [e.g. 4–8] The Earth’s climate has been changing rapidly since the growth and indirect effects on their habitats . mid-twentieth century[1] and this has consequences for all Because fungi play a dominant role in terrestrial living organisms. Last year’s State of the World’s Plants decomposition and nutrient cycling, as well as plant nutrient focused on how these climate impacts are already affecting uptake (see Chapter 5), plant health (see Chapter 8), and the [9,10] vascular plants across the globe and how they are likely to diet of many animals , changes in fungal growth resulting affect them in the future[2]. This chapter provides a broad from climate change will have considerable knock-on effects overview of the current status of knowledge of how fungi for ecosystem functions. Fungi are uniquely able to exploit are responding to climate change and how their ecological living and dead plant tissues that make up 95% of terrestrial [11] functions and interactions may affect ecosystem responses biomass . They are also a major component in the regulation of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO ); in Scandinavia, for to current and future change. 2 example, it was estimated that 50–70% of carbon stored in boreal forest soils was derived from dead roots and THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE associated fungi[12]. A changing climate will have significant By 2100, global temperature increases in the range of effects on these processes. In addition, global patterns of 1 to 5°C are predicted. High-latitude temperature increases fungal disease are changing and although the main driver are, and will continue to be, of greater magnitude than in the spread of fungal pathogens is considered to be trade, average, with rapid changes in boreal (subarctic) and Arctic climate change will have an increasingly important role to ecosystems[3]. The consequences of these rapid changes play (see Chapter 8). are likely to be significant, and in temperate mountain FIGURE 1: QUESTIONS AND KNOWLEDGE GAPS KEY UNRESOLVED QUESTIONS: KEY INFORMATION GAPS: What is the relative importance of fungal ! Long-term data adaptation, migration and acclimatisation? Large-scale data How does climate change affect the yield of Data from tropical, subtropical and warm fungal spore-bearing structures? temperate ecosystems How does climate change affect fungal Experimental data from fungi associated growth and activity? with trees, rather than seedlings ? How do fungi mediate ecosystem responses Fungal response and effect traits to climate change? Data from multiple simultaneous How do changes in the phenology of spore- drivers of change (nitrogen bearing structure production reflect changes deposition, carbon dioxide, ozone, in activity, abundance, biomass UV, temperature, drought, fire) and distribution? Can fungi track climate space shifts? Climate change: Fungal responses and effects 65 66 Challenges OBSERVING HOW FUNGI RESPOND Reproduction is now considerably later in the season than [7] Because fungi feed and live within substrates or underground, in the 1950s . There is also evidence of changes in fungal direct observation and measurement of their responses communities in warmer soils, with mycorrhizal species that to climate change are challenging. Crucially, this limits our produce abundant filaments in the soil and consume more [6,34,35] ability to predict change in ecosystem properties such as plant host carbon becoming more dominant . Though global carbon stocks[13,14]. For practical reasons, more readily considerably less studied, leaf endophytes (fungi living within observable shifts in the timing of reproduction – when some the leaf cells of plants; see Chapter 5) also respond to global fungi emerge from wood, litter and soil to make spore-bearing change and can ameliorate the effects of drought in their [36,37] structures such as mushrooms – have been more intensively host plants . However, there are still large knowledge documented (see Box 1). Even though evidence of changes in gaps and unresolved questions relating to how fungi will distribution, physiology and activity are emerging (see Box 2), respond to current and future climate change (Figure 1). or can be predicted from models (see Box 3), for fungi it is not yet possible to comprehensively assess the importance of the MYCORRHIZAL INTERACTIONS AND FEEDBACK four possible outcomes of global change: adaptation, migration, Human-induced changes in the atmosphere are known acclimatisation or extinction. to affect fungi in a variety of ways. In general, studies Studies of individual species in laboratory conditions show have found that elevated atmospheric CO enhances the that fungal growth increases with temperature until reaching 2 abundance and activity of mycorrhizal fungi, particularly a maximum and then decreases. Moisture levels also have in relation to the production of spore-bearing structures, an effect, causing a decrease in fungal growth when moisture while warmer temperatures increase fungal abundance is insufficient or excessive[15]. But how do fungi respond to but decrease activities such as soil nutrient transfer to changes in the real world? For mushrooms (basidiomycete plants[6]. Mycorrhizal fungi reduce plant stress and increase agarics), there are abundant long-term datasets available productivity during drought, so the effect of fungal shifts on from citizen science and fungarium collections showing that plant community dynamics is likely to be important[6]; shifts reproduction has been dramatically impacted by climate change: in mycorrhizal diversity are directly linked with tree tolerance length of the reproductive season and timing of the production to climate change[38]. Carbon dioxide fertilisation of plants[39] of spore-bearing structures have been shown to be affected might also increase resources for decomposer fungi. by temperature and rainfall, as have diversity and range, in In general, depending on their characteristics, different fungi studies from Europe, Japan and the USA[5,8,16–31]. For example, are likely to be variously impacted (see Figure 2). in some European countries, the mushroom season has up In addition to climate change, nitrogen (an essential nutrient to doubled in length for many fungal species since 1950[20,26]. that mycorrhizal fungi have specialised in scavenging for plants Similar changes have been reported elsewhere in Europe, from mineral and organic sources) has reached unnaturally high Asia and North America, but variation in fungal phenology and concentrations in industrialised regions. Low nitrogen deposition fungal biomass exists among species and locations. Overall, levels (up to 5–10 kg/ha/yr of nitrate and/or ammonium) can the higher temperatures and increased moisture levels have be favourable to fungal growth. Higher levels (increasingly more become more conducive to reproduction, and growth within soils widespread globally), shift the proportion of mycorrhizal fungi and plant biomass potentially occurs over a longer period each in ecosystems and negatively impact their diversity, growth year. Consequently, inputs of dead vegetation, decomposition and reproduction. Dutch studies conducted since the 1950s and the resulting release of carbon dioxide from soil, wood and provide striking evidence that fungal fruiting declines with leaf litter can be expected to rise, although data are still limited increased nitrogen pollution[35,40]. Some mycorrhizal fungi in on the capacity for plant-mutualistic fungi to store carbon in Europe have benefited from environmental measures to reduce soils, which may counterbalance this effect. nitrogen deposition[41], yet nitrogen pollution is increasing in the The dominant plant nutritional mutualists – mycorrhizal developing world, especially Asia. Considering these complex fungi – increase