Summary: Hardwood and mixed conifer forests, comprising a significant fraction of BLM lands and mid-elevation USFS lands in southern Oregon, are targeted for increased management activities. In addition, global warming may decrease the area occupied by solely coniferous forests and increase the area for mixed hardwood-conifer forests. The major tree species in mixed hardwood-conifer forests form obligate symbiotic relationships, mycorrhizas, with macrofungi. In southern Oregon, the tree hosts of ectomycorrhizal fungi include the Pinaceae (pines, firs, spruce, hemlock, Douglas-fir), the Fagaceae (oaks, tanoaks), and some woody Rosaceae (mountain mahogany). Truffles are sequestrate fungi because they have enclosed fruiting bodies with spores dispersed by small mammals. The seasonality and hypogeous nature of truffles make them difficult to detect. Sequestrate fungi (truffles) comprise a significant fraction of species in mycorrhizal communities.
This project was designed as a strategic survey of rare and little-known sequestrate fungi in hardwood and mixed hardwood-conifer habitats in southwest Oregon where sensitive and strategic fungal species are likely to occur along with other more common sequestrate fungi.