Climate change impacts tree migrations by disrupting essential symbiotic relationships with mycorrhizal fungi, necessary for nutrient exchange and survival in new habitats.are shifting to different locations as their historical habitats become inhospitable. Trees are no exception – many species’ normal ranges are no longer conducive to their health, but their shift to new areas that could better sustain them has been lagging behind those of other plants and animals.
A giant pine tree growing on Corsica, where climate change effects are extreme. Credit: SPUN/Quentin van den BosscheMost plants form belowground partnerships with mycorrhizal fungi, microscopic, filamentous fungi that grow in the soil and connect with plant roots to supply plants with critical nutrients in exchange for carbon. Most large coniferous trees in northern latitudes form relationships with a kind of mycorrhizal fungi called ectomycorrhizal fungi.
“As we examined the future for these symbiotic relationships, we found that 35% of partnerships between trees and fungi that interact with the tree roots would be negatively impacted by climate change,” says lead author Michael Van Nuland, a fungal ecologist at the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks .The trees most at risk of this climate mismatch in North America are those in the pine family, find the authors.
“Ectomycorrhizal fungi have a different relationship to climate than ectomycorrhizal trees do,” says co-author Clara Qin, a data scientist at SPUN. “We are finding evidence that the trees have to answer for these differences.”The study sheds light on how climate change might be affecting symbioses.
Reference: “Climate mismatches with ectomycorrhizal fungi contribute to migration lag in North American tree range shifts” 27 May 2024,SciTechDaily: Home of the best science and technology news since 1998. Keep up with the latest scitech news via email or social media.The activity of an ice stream has caused the Ross Ice Shelf to suddenly displace. In Antarctica, massive glaciers are constantly shifting.
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