Long-term effects of forest management on the dynamics of Tricholoma matsutake harvest over 41 years in a Pinus densiflora forest in Nagano Prefecture, Japan.

Abstract

Tricholoma matsutake is an important wild edible mycorrhizal mushroom in Japan. The domestic matsutake harvest has been declining for 80 y. Nagano Prefecture, a central region of Japan, is the area that has been most productive of matsutake during the past 20 y. To study how matsutake harvesting was affected by forest management, an experimental site was established in a pine forest in Nagano Prefecture in 1980. Two plots were established: a managed plot (MP) in which all trees except pine were cut, pine trees were thinned, and soil litter layer was removed; and a control plot (CP) with no forest management. The numbers of matsutake fruiting bodies were recorded annually in both plots for 41 y. The annual matsutake harvest was stable in the MP but decreased in the CP, while the number of shiro increased in the MP and was stable at the low level in the CP. These trends were suggested to be affected significantly by the thicker humus layer and large root biomass other than pines in the CP. This is the longest record of matsutake harvest in the managed forest, which reveals the importance of such long-term forest management for the sustainable matsutake harvesting.