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The Overstory #155 - Mycoforestry
By Paul Stamets

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The Overstory Book, 2nd Edition, a formatted, indexed and illustrated
compilation of The Overstory ejournal editions 1 - 138 is in stock.
Your purchase helps support publication of The Overstory:
http://www.agroforestry.net/overstory/ovbook.html

::::::::::::::
The Overstory #155 - Mycoforestry
By Paul Stamets

Contents:
: INTRODUCTION
: NUTRIENT CYCLING
: VALUING BIODIVERSITY
: RECYCLE WOOD DEBRIS FOR FOREST RECOVERY
: GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF MYCOFORESTRY
: FIGURES
: REFERENCES
: ORIGINAL SOURCE
: ABOUT THE AUTHOR
: RELATED EDITIONS OF THE OVERSTORY
: PUBLISHER NOTES
: SUBSCRIPTIONS

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INTRODUCTION
Without fungi, there are no forests. Mycoforestry is the use of fungi to
sustain forest communities. Mycoforestry can be used to help accomplish
the following goals:
* preservation of native forests
* recovery and recycling of woodland debris
* enhancement of replanted trees
* strengthening sustainability of ecosystem
* economic diversity

NUTRIENT CYCLING
Mushrooms contribute phosphorus and confer other ecological benefits to
the riparian and forest ecosystems. Mushrooms become launching platforms 
for explosive growth of bacterial populations, many of which are
critical for plant health. Mushrooms have a preselecting influence on
the bacteria sharing their habitat (Tornberg et al. 2003). Bacteria
beneficial to trees regulate inputs and outputs of nitrogen and are
phosphorus limited (Sundareshwar et al. 2003). Mycelium absorbs
phosphorus from its surroundings, moving these mineral salts over
distances, and later releases this mineral when mushrooms rot or the
mycelium dies. Fungal-decomposing bacteria then absorb the phosphorus.
As the mushrooms rot, the ecosystem benefits from this cycling of
essential minerals in which the bacteria allow phosphorus, zinc,
potassium, and other minerals to be redeposited back into the
nutritional bank.
In other words, mushroom remains fertilize the ecosystem. Other
organisms quickly consume the dying and rotting mushrooms. As plants
grow, their falling leaves, branches, and flowers enter into fungal
cycle of decomposition. This response - a highly energized state of
regrowth - is nature's safeguard for rapid, adaptive habitat renewal.
After catastrophes strike, the saprophytes lead the way toward renewal,
supporting the construction of complex life-supporting soils.

VALUING BIODIVERSITY
Reforestation efforts are greatly enhanced when mycorrhizae are
introduced to sprouting seeds or to the roots of young trees before or
at the time of planting. The value of fungi is being increasingly
recognized when economists assess forests. Many researchers sincerely
believe that secondary products from woodland ecosystems, in addition to
the other benefits they offer, provide strong economic incentives to
leave the forests intact. And beyond short-term economic incentives,
forests affect climate and prevent desertification. Placing an economic
value on an aesthetic - for instance unspoiled landscapes, an
incalculable like biodiversity, or undiscovered mycomedicines -
confronts the simplistic conclusions of conventional economic models
that compare timber and mushrooms as two mutually exclusive commodities.
From an economic perspective, many biologists believe the biosphere is
underappreciated.
Taking into consideration high-value mushrooms such as matsutake, the
economic benefits of preserving the woodlands increasingly outweighs the
short-term gains of logging, assuming the economic ratios remain on par.
A study by Alexander et al. (2002) using a Soil Evaluation Equivalent
(SEV) formula found that, in south Central Oregon, a comparison of
harvesting timber and matsutake mushrooms yielded close to the same
economic benefit from the land over the same time period. This
evaluation, however, does not factor many other positives in not cutting
the timber - enriching soils, reducing erosion, helping the health of
streams, increasing biodiversity, improving air quality, effecting
regional cooling (thereby offsetting global warming) and, some
particularly incalculable aesthetics: the experiential pleasure a person
or family has in the pursuit of wild mushrooms while walking through
verdant natural landscapes. In fact, wild mushrooming, according to a
United Nations report by Eric Boa (2004), has worldwide socioeconomic
significance.
Selective harvesting of developing second- and third-growth forests,
however, when done with the intention of preserving other secondary
forest products such as mushrooms, may prove to be the best practice for
sustaining profits. These principles are the cornerstone of an emergent
new management strategy called "ecoforestry."
The manner in which mushrooms are harvested, too, has a dramatic impact
on subsequent crops. For instance, a study in southern Oregon showed
that when matsutake patches were raked and the divots from the harvested
mushrooms were not recovered with duff, matsutake crops in subsequent
years plummeted 75-90 percent; if harvesters recovered the divots after
shallow raking, yields were not adversely affected (Eberhart et al.
2003). Similarly, no adverse effects were noticed over a decade of
harvesting chanterelles in a forest west of Portland, Oregon (Pilz et
al. 1993, 2003), where the preferred practice was to cut the mushrooms
while picking, leaving the stem butts undisturbed. We now know that
chanterelles often come up in pairs, and if harvesters cut only one
partner, then the other mushroom, often hidden from view as a resting
primordium, can grow to maturity. Perfecting harvesting practices to
protect future harvests dramatically improves the profitability of the
mushroom-harvesting industry.
We can't yet accurately assess the value of our old-growth forests, but
the valuations continually increase directly in proportion to our
knowledge. If a mushroom species exclusive to the old-growth forest
prevents a viral epidemic that could kill millions and cost billions,
how do we value it? Mushroom species producing enzymes to break down VX
toxin and antibiotics protecting cells from pox and HIV viruses
dramatically increases the value of old-growth forests. Losing these
antiviral species in order to improve the quarterly reports of lumber
companies may cost our civilization far more in economic terms than it
gains for a single industry: the future of our species may literally be
at stake.
RECYCLE WOOD DEBRIS FOR FOREST RECOVERY
After loggers haul trees away, vast debris fields remain behind: stumps,
brush, and downed small-diameter or otherwise unmarketable trees. Until
this wood debris decomposes, its biomass is locked away from the food
web and is therefore unavailable to bacteria, protozoa, insects, plants,
animals, and other fungi, some of which would dismantle the cellular
structure of wood, freeing nutrients. In order to stimulate
decomposition and trigger habitat recovery, we can selectively introduce
keystone mushroom species such as saprophytic fungi, the first species
to feed on dead wood.
Making wood debris fields more fungus friendly speeds up decomposition
and helps the decomposition cycles become more balanced. To help nature
recalibrate after logging, fungi must be brought into close contact with
the dead wood so that the forest floor can act as a springboard for
saprophytic and other fungi, which are instruments of the forest's
immune system, ready to heal its wounds. For several years after a
forest has been cut, the mycosphere survives underground, with an
increasing loss of diversity over time unless plant communities and
debris fields are renewed.
In forestlands, mycelium follows trails of fallen wood. Sticks and
branches making ground contact are soon consumed by mycelium from
existing fungal communities. From the ground, mycelia literally reach up
into the newly available wood. Whether wood is whole or fragmented
affects the rate at which nutrients return to the soil: wood chips are
quickly consumed by fungal mycelium, whereas logs decompose much slower.
I recommend creating a matrix by chipping wood into variably sized
fragments in order to let mycelium quickly grab and invade the wood.
Wood fragments with greater surface areas are more likely to have
contact with spores or mycelium; this is especially true in the
cultivation of mushrooms where spawn growth is integral to success. The
fungal recycling of wood chips lessens reliance on fertilizers,
herbicides, and pesticides. So leaving the chips in the woods helps
recovering forest soils just like leaving stubble on farmed land helps
agricultural soil. However, if the wood is reduced to too fine a dust
and piled too deeply, it suffocates aerobic fungi, including beneficial
saprophytes, and anaerobic organisms flourish; chips should be no
smaller than 1/8 inch and piled no more than a foot deep.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF MYCOFORESTRY
Mycoforestry is a newly emerging science, an off-shoot of ecoforestry
practices with an emphasis on the role of beneficial fungi. As with any
new scientific path, guidelines help steer the course of research and
the development of new implementation strategies. The guiding principles
I foresee are:
1. Use native species of fungi in the habitats needing restoration.
2. Amplify saprophytic fungi based on available wood substrates.
3. Select species known to help plant communities.
4. Select mushroom species that attract insects whose larvae are food
for fish and birds.
5. Select fungal species according to their interactions with bacteria
and plants
6. Choose species that compete with disease rot fungi (such as
Armillaria species and Heterobasidion annosum) by using
mycorestorative saprophytes like Hypholoma, Psilocybes, Trametes,
Ganoderma, Sparassis, and allies.
7. Choose species of known medicinal or culinary value if economically
valuable mushrooms help tilt the balance in favor of preservation.
8. Promote ground contact with fallen trees so they can reenter the
soil food chain.
9. Leave snags to sustain bird and insect populations.
10. Use spored oils in chain saws, chippers, and cutting tools so that
wood debris is immediately put into contact with fungal spores, speeding
up decomposition
11. Retain wood debris mass on site, and place debris around newly
planted trees, along roads, or wherever erosion control is needed.
12. Only burn wood debris as a last ditch measure for disease control.
13. Use mycorrhizal spore inoculum when replanting forestlands.
(Seedlings cultivated in pasteurized or constructed soils on tree
nurseries typically lack mycorrhizae.)

FIGURES
Figure 1. <http://www.agroforestry.net/images/Stametsmf1.jpg> In the
ancient forests carpeting Mount Rainier, I encountered a large noble fir
(Abies procera) hosting a noble polypore (Bridgeoporus nobilissimus) at
its base.
Figure 2. <http://www.agroforestry.net/images/Stametsmf2.jpg> Piles of
branches sit undecomposed after 20+ years on a farm on the border of
Mason and Thurston counties, Washington State. Had this wood been
chipped, placed into contact with the ground, and/or shaded, saprophytic
fungi would have flourished, and debris by-products would have reentered
the food chain. Brush piles like this one also pose a fire hazard, since
the elevated wood dries, hardens and resists rot.
Figure 3. <http://www.agroforestry.net/images/Stametsmf3.jpg> Left:
Young Doulgas fir seedlings without wood chips. Right: Young Douglas
firs seedlings collared with wood chips. The addition of wood chips
cools the ground, increases moisture retention, and provides delayed
release nutrients as they decompose.

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REFERENCES
Alexander, S. J., D. Pilz, N. S. Weber, E. Brown, and V. A. Rockwell.
2002. Mushrooms, trees and money: Value estimates of commercial
mushrooms and timber in the Pacific Northwest. Environmental Management
30(1):129-141.
Boa, E. 2004. Wild edible fungi: A global overview of their use and
importance to people. Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations. FAO Technical Paper: Non-Wood Forest Products 17.
Eberhart, J. L., D. L. Luoma, D. Pilz, M. P. Amaranthus, R. Abbott, and
D. Segotta. 1999. Effects of harvest techniques on American Matsutake
(Tricholoma magnivelare) production. Proceedings from the IXth
International Congress of Mycology. Sydney, Australia.
http://www.matsiman.com/formalpubs/harvestmethodposter/harmethposter.htm.
Pilz, D., R. Molina, and L. H. Liegel. 1998. Biological productivity of
chanterelle mushrooms in and near the Olympic Peninsula Biosphere
Reserve.Ambio-A Journal of the Human Environment. Special Report Number
9, September.
Pilz, D., L. Norvell, E. Danell, and R. Molina. 2003. Ecology and
management of commercially harvested chanterelle mushrooms. Portland,
Ore.: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station.
PNW-GTR-576.
Tornberg, K., E. Baath, and S. Olsson. 2003. Fungal growth and effects
of different wood decomposing fungi on the indigenous bacterial
community of polluted and unpolluted soils. Biology and Fertility of
Soils 37:190-197.
Sundareshwar, P. V., J. Morris, and E. Koepfler. 2003. Phosphorus
limitation of coastal ecosystem processes. Science 299:563-565

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ORIGINAL SOURCE
With the generous permission of the author, this edition of The
Overstory was adapted from the original manuscript for:
Stamets, P. 2005 (in press). Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help
Save the World. Copyright © 2005. Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, CA.
For more information or to order the book, visit
<http://www.fungi.com> or
<http://www.tenspeedpress.com/catalog/tenspeed/item.php3?id=1651>

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul Stamets has authored numerous books, including Growing Gourmet &
Medicinal Mushrooms, which describes methods for incorporating mushrooms
and mycotechnologies within a permaculture model. He has been published
in numerous journals, and presented innumerable lectures on mycology. He
has discovered and named four new species of mushrooms. Active in
sourcing new strains of medicinal mushrooms, his business Fungi Perfecti
<http://www.fungi.com> serves cultivators and scientists worldwide
including as an advisor to the Program for Integrative Medicine at the
University of Arizona Medical School. Paul has been awarded a
breakthrough patent on using fungi to replace chemical pesticides in a
way that does not harm the environment of the genome and has 16 patents
pending. His newest book, from which this article is excerpted, Mycelium
Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World will be published in
October 2005. Paul teaches workshops at his farms located at the base of
the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State, USA.

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WEB LINKS
Working with Mycorrhizas in Forestry and Agriculture - Introduction
to the structure, development and function of mycorrhizas. Includes
illustrations, lists of Australian host plants, fungi associated with
Eucalyptus and teaching resources:
<http://www.ffp.csiro.au/research/mycorrhiza/>
Mycorrhiza Information exchange:
<http://dmsylvia.ifas.ufl.edu/mycorrhiza.htm>
A Practical Introduction to Mycorrhiza: <http://www.mycorrhiza.org/>
University of Hawaii Cooperative Extension's "Manual on Arbuscular
Mycorrhizal Fungus Production and Inoculation Techniques" (pdf
document): <http://www2.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/SCM-5.pdf>

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RELATED EDITIONS OF THE OVERSTORY
The Overstory #131--Microsymbionts
The Overstory #119--Five Fertility Principles
The Overstory #102--Mycorrhizas
The Overstory #86--Role of Mushrooms in Nature
<http://www.agroforestry.net/overstory/overstory86.html>
The Overstory #81--Soil Food Web
<http://www.agroforestry.net/overstory/overstory81.html>
The Overstory #78--Reforestation of Degraded Lands
<http://www.agroforestry.net/overstory/overstory78.html>
The Overstory #70--Rhizosphere
<http://www.agroforestry.net/overstory/overstory70.html>
The Overstory #61--Effects of Trees on Soils
<http://www.agroforestry.net/overstory/overstory61.html>
The Overstory #42--Improved Fallow
<http://www.agroforestry.net/overstory/overstory42.html>
The Overstory #33--Mushrooms in Agroforestry
<http://www.agroforestry.net/overstory/overstory33.html>

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PUBLISHER NOTES

The Overstory Book, 2nd Edition, a formatted, indexed and illustrated
compilation of The Overstory ejournal editions 1 - 138 is in stock.
Your purchase helps support publication of The Overstory:
http://www.agroforestry.net/overstory/ovbook.html
ADDRESS CHANGES: Please send any changes in your e-mail address to
overstory AT agroforestry.net

::::::::::::::


Publisher: Permanent Agriculture Resources
Editor: Craig R. Elevitch
Distributor:
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This publication is Copyright 2005 Permanent Agriculture Resources.
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This journal is designed to provide agricultural information, but
is sent with the understanding that the editors and publishers are
not engaged in rendering consultation. If expert assistance is
required, the services of a professional should be sought.

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