Linking climate variability to mushroom productivity and phenology

Climate change affects ecological systems across various spatiotemporal scales and disrupts the life cycles of resident organisms. Little is known about the environmental drivers of mushroom productivity and phenology, partially because the life cycle of fungi is mostly belowground. Here, we present results from a field survey, in which a total of 65 631 unique individual mycorrhizal mushrooms – representing 273 species – were recorded during weekly intervals from 1975 to 2006 in a nature reserve in Switzerland. The average annual number of observed mushrooms increased from 1313 (pre‐1991) to 2730 (1991 and thereafter), while average fruiting time during the latter period was delayed by 10 days as compared with that of the former. Precipitation amounts and temperature means determined fungal activity. Reconstructed intra‐annual timing of mushroom fruiting for the 20th century paralleled contemporary Swiss wine harvest dates, providing independent evidence of climate‐induced ecosystem change. Enhanced growth conditions and extended growing seasons appear beneficial to fungi from both a socioeconomic and an ecological perspective, because most vascular plants interact with mycorrhizal fungi to generate biomass.