New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Science News
from research organizations

Morel mushroom abundance after wildfire

Date:
July 26, 2016
Source:
The University of Montana
Summary:
Forest ecologists recently published research estimating the abundance of morel mushrooms after a wildfire in California's Sierra Nevada.
Share:
FULL STORY

University of Montana forest ecology Professor Andrew Larson recently published research estimating the abundance of morel mushrooms after a wildfire in California's Sierra Nevada.

"So many people love to harvest and eat morel mushrooms," Larson said, "but there is very little research that measures the abundance of morels after a forest has burned. We wanted to give forest managers concrete data on morel abundance."

Larson and his co-authors conducted their study in the Yosemite Forest Dynamics Plot, a long-term research site located in Yosemite National Park. A fire burned the research site in September 2013, killing more than 70 percent of the trees. Researchers then surveyed for morels in May 2014 in 1,119 small sample plots within the research site.

Where morels were found, researchers discovered most of the ground surface was 100 percent burned by fire. Morels typically are found close together, yet unevenly distributed across the landscape.

According to Larson, burned white fir forests in Yosemite alone could produce an average crop of more than 1 million morels per year, a sustainable amount for recreational picking.

"The magnitude of post-fire morel production, especially the first year after fire, clearly supports the park's current rule allowing people to pick one pint per day for personal use."

At the start of their study Larson's team was surprised by how little research has been conducted on morel mushroom productivity.

"We reviewed every published paper on post-fire morel mushroom productivity we could find," Larson said. "Amazingly, only three earlier studies -- in Alaska, Oregon and British Columbia, Canada, provide statistically sound estimates of morel abundance after forest fires."

Much is still unknown about where morels grow after a fire, so Larson and his co-authors also propose a conceptual model to guide future research that could explain the mushroom's spatial distribution in burned areas.


Story Source:

Materials provided by The University of Montana. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Andrew J. Larson, C. Alina Cansler, Seth G. Cowdery, Sienna Hiebert, Tucker J. Furniss, Mark E. Swanson, James A. Lutz. Post-fire morel (Morchella) mushroom abundance, spatial structure, and harvest sustainability. Forest Ecology and Management, 2016; 377: 16 DOI: 10.1016/j.foreco.2016.06.038

Cite This Page:

The University of Montana. "Morel mushroom abundance after wildfire." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 26 July 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160726123852.htm>.
The University of Montana. (2016, July 26). Morel mushroom abundance after wildfire. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 27, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160726123852.htm
The University of Montana. "Morel mushroom abundance after wildfire." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160726123852.htm (accessed March 27, 2024).

Explore More

from ScienceDaily

RELATED STORIES