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do mushrooms fruit in successions?


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If one were to harvest all of the species of one mushroom in a given area, could it be possible to re-harvest in that same area within a relatively short timeframe?  Or do the fruit bodies only appear in an area in abundance once per season?  I'm thinking along the lines of an apple tree for example.  If I picked all the apples off a tree, I would have to wait until next year to pick that same tree...

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The question is a good one, for which there is no easy answer. 

To begin, fungi basically play three different roles in Nature: mycorrhizal association with other living organisms; saprophyte, meaning the fungus feeds off of decaying organic matter; parasite, meaning the fungus robs a living organism of nutrients produced by the living organism. Some fungal species are suspected of playing more than one of these roles, possibly at different times during their lifespans.

Many types of fungi have what is called "split season". Thus generally means that the mushrooms are apt to appear once during (possibly) late Spring and again possibly during (early) Autumn. But, it is not infrequent that such types of mushrooms may also appear between these two seasonal periods. Boletus edulis is regarded as a mycorrhizal split season species. Generally --given favorable conditions-- there is a flush of B. edulis during late spring and another during the first few weeks of Fall (here in NE PA). But, there have been occasions when I have made substantial collections of B. edulis in August. 

Most saprobic fungi produce mushrooms in response to changes in temperature. In some cases, this will predictably occur only in Fall, after substrate has been warn enough followed by periods of cool weather. Armillaria mellea is apparently like this, only found during the period late summer through mid Fall. Lepista nuda (Blewit) is another type that appears here in eastern NA only during late summer through mid Fall (but possibly later during abnormally warm years). On the other hand --as mentioned above-- some saprobic species like Coprinellus micaceus (group), ie."Mica Caps", can be found whenever temperature fluctuations are favorable, usually in Spring or Autumn but also possible in Summer.

Some species --mainly mycorrhizal-- are apt to appear only during the summer. Other mycorrhial species only occur during late Fall after there's been cold weather. But some mycorrhizal species like Boletus edulis have split (or staggered) seasons. 

Parasitic species depend upon the host organism continuing to remain alive in order to maintain the aspect of a parasite, although many parasitic fungal species are known to segue into a saprobic phase once the host organism dies. 

So, what does this all add up to? No easy answer.

When it comes to mycorrhizal species --for which mushrooms occur as the result of a fungus associated with a living tree/plant-- these types are to be expected to occur in the same areas year after year at approximately the same time of year... given favorable temperature/precipitation... regardless of prior harvesting. However, I wonder if spores produced by these types of mushrooms may impact future generations of the fungi. IMO, the understanding here is incomplete. I generally try to leave some of these types of mushrooms behind (in-situ) even if it's a desirable edible type. 

As for saprobes, these types feed off decaying vegetation, and occurrence of the mushrooms is limited to the viability of the fungus that lives off these nutrients. Once the availability nutrients are used up, the fungus dies way... and so do the mushrooms, regardless of how aggressively the mushrooms have been harvested. However, is it possible that the limited perennial life of the mycelium (fungal organism) depends upon the introduction of newly germinated spores? I don't know. 

Within the span of a single year, in some cases the same type of mushroom may appear several times during the same area. 

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