Guestimating ages of trees through fungi

[Daniël Bos]

Daniel,

1. I'm not pretending nor aiming at describing the individual life of a single tree

 

And that's excactly what I thought was suggested with Rob's age-determination theory?

[Fungus]

And that's excactly what I thought was suggested with Rob's age-determination theory?

 

No, IMO he was trying to sum up and describe what the succession of ectomycorrhizal macrofungi in the life of a tree species under "normal" circumstances in its natural habitat would look like to derive the age from a tree growing under optimal circumstances from.

[Fungus]

- trees are predetermined by their tree species specific genetic traits and a restricted repertoire that "permits" them to react to outside influences, i.e. they are not in control of their own ecosystem, in which the fungal mycelia are the interfaces, go betweens or intermediaries linking together the entire ecosystem,

- for their reproduction (DNA), trees need phosphorus and nitrogen, which for the greater part or only can be obtained through intervention of the mycelia of mycorrhizal symbionts

 

To elaborate on the above two points, trees associated with ectomycorrhizal macrofungi are for the greater part depending on Russula and Lactarius species for the phosphorous (prerequisite for DNA) they need for their reproductive cycles.

Russula and Lactarius species have relatively big FB's, that need a lot of energy (sugar polymeres) coming from the tree roots for their formation.

Because of that Russula and Lactarius species are "permitted" to enter the tree species specific life cycle shortly before the tree starts its first blossoming and fruiting.

As every tree has its species specific life cycle with its successive phases of ectomycorrhizal symbionts, for every tree species the appearance of Russula and Lactarius FB's starts at a certain age, which can differ by many years minus or plus from the starting ages of other tree species.

A tree with a mean life span of about 80-100 years, such as a birch, needs generalistic and tree species specific Russula and Lactarius species at the age of 15-20 years, a beech with a mean life span of 200-300 years needs them after 30-40 years and an oak with a life span of 600-800 years at about the age of 60-80 years to be capable of regular seasonal fruiting.