Fungi - Cultivation, or Fertiliser?

Summary Description:

Scotland has the greatest potential area for woodland expansion in the UK, with much large-scale afforestation concentrated in upland environments, and the Scottish Government's Draft Climate Change Plan (2017) has set ambition targets to increase national woodland cover by 21% by 2031. Progress towards these afforestation targets and the ecological and societal benefits they underpin, relies on the successful establishment of young woodlands. However, native woodland creation projects frequently experience high levels of sapling mortality, and identifying management strategies that improve early survival and growth is vital.

Trees commonly form mutualistic associations with ectomycorrhizel fungo (EMF), exchanging nutrients, enhancing drought tolerance, and benefiting from the transfer of defence signals between trees.

In Scotland, woodland creation often takes place on sites that have lacked tree cover for long periods, such as heathlands, where typical woodland EMF communities may be absent, restricting tree growth and reduce survival rates. This has led to growing international interest in the application of EMF inoculants in large-scale afforestation. However, despite widespread recognition of the ecological importance of EMF, evidence for the effectiveness of fungal inoculants in enhancing root colonisation or improving plant performance under field conditions remains limited. Furthermore, comparative evaluations of these products against established management practices, such as ground preparation techniques (mounding and screefing) and fertilisation, are still lacking.

Through a large-scale field study, this project will investigate the degree to which afforestation projects may benefit from investing in these novel planting techniques, and will provide practical recommendations for the use of fungal inoculants in comparison to and in combination with standard planting practices.