Link between research and the development of mycological resources in Québec

Transcription

1 Link between research and the development of mycological resources in Québec Marie-France Gévry, M.Sc. Laval University, Québec Colloque sur les champignons et autres PFNL : innovations et perspectives August 27-28, 2014

2 Presentation outline Economical importance of Edible Forest mushroom (EFM) The mycorrhizal relationship and State of knowledge in Quebec Research and developpement of the resource in Quebec Challenges and Perspectives

3 Economical importance of Edible Forest mushroom (EFM) - The emergence of a lucrative global market - - 2,5 G$ Worldwide M$ for Canada : 90% from BC, the rest from Eastern provinces and Saskatchewan - Annual harvests increasing as a consequence of a high demand on international markets for «Terroir» products : - In Canada : 1,1 M of tons in 1979 to 3,29 M of tons in In Quebec : about 50 tons in 2014 (an increased of 1 000% for the last 5 yrs). An economic potential of M$ CA/yr. An opportunity for rural development and diversification of the forest resource (plus-value)

4 Economical importance of Edible Forest mushroom (EFM) Three modes of development of EFM: - Commercial harvests (international markets) - Recreative picking (local selling and consumption) - Mycotourism (create regional benefits by attracting tourist) Ex. : Spain (Castilla y leon) - Annual benefits : 65 M - 40% from commercial harvest and EFM transformation, 39% from mycotourism, 21% from recreative picking entreprises of transformation (source : Micodata, Gouvernement de la Castilla y León 2014).

5 3 main species harvested in Canada Morels Chanterelle Matsutake In Quebec : Macrofungi-diversity is estimated > sp., including a great variety of valuable EFM (ceps, milky-cap, etc.)

6 Photo : J.-A. Fortin The mycorrhizal relationship The great majority of high-value species of EFM are symbiotic. They need a host to grow and has to be harvested in forests. Mushroom = pomp + Water + Nutrients Sugars and photosynthats (carbohydrates) A renewable resource, with a great complexity

7 State of knowledge in Quebec First researches on the field has been conducted between to investigate the effect of ecological factors on the ectomycorrhizal mushroom distribution (Nantel & Neumann, Villeneuve). First inventories targeting EFM were conducted in Abitibi by Miron ( ), and in Gaspe Peninsula (Guérette, 2001) : three researches launched in Abitibi, Lac- Saint-Jean and Gaspe peninsula area to investigate elements of the ecology of EFM (Rochon, Maneli, Gévry). Those studies showed the importance of forest cover (Host Trees) in the distribution of EFM and their sensibility to other ecological factors : Stand structure (age, density, schrubs and ericaceous cover, mosses and lichen cover),; Edaphic conditions (ph, drainage, thickness and litter quality, surface deposit composition, etc.); Topography (orientation, slope, etc.).

8 State of knowledge in Quebec Lots of surveys conducted in many regions, over 1-2 yrs, has permit to establish a list of species of interest. Education of the population contribute to increase local consumption and to create a pool of pickers Some mycotourism experiments have showed the economical importance of this high-value activity for rural areas.

9 From a forest manager and a political perspective In its Sustainable forest management Report (2010), the «Chief Forester of Quebec» mentionned the lack of knowledge to establish the economical potential of NTFPs. No quantitative data available for forest managers Without a controlled management of commercial harvests : a loss for the governement and a risk of overexploitation of the resource. Therefore, the estimation of the biological and economical potential is needed to achieve strategic and sustainable management of the sector.

10 Research and Developement of the Resource in Quebec 1. How can we achieve to integrate EFM in forest planning? 2. How can we optimize EFM harvest in natural environment? 3. How can we create value from EFM?

11 Research and Developement of the Resource How can we achieve to integrate EFM in forest planning? 1) Model mean annual EFM productivity (kg/ha) among forest stand type for assessing the economic potential generated by the development of EFM of high commercial value Which spatiotemporal data set should be included in the model? What is the relative contribution (%) of each set to the precision of the model? - Field data - Ecoforest, deposit, hydrological, climatic maps, etc. - Satellite data A 3-5 years effort, stratified by bioclimatic area

12 Research and Developement of the Resource How can we achieve to integrate EFM in forest planning? - Can the EFM development be complementary to the timber exploitation? We think so because - Surveys showed that high-productive forest stands were young - EFM harvest can generate benefits during more than > 10 yrs

13 Research and Developement of the Resource How can we optimize EFM harvest in natural environment? 2.1) Enhancing productivity of forest stand by a Mycosylvicultural approach How can we create optimal conditions for EFM fruiting? Ex. : Creating canopy opening, maintaining host-tree diversity, managing to target a particular stand structure (age), pruning trees to enhance carbon allocation to their roots (feed the mycelium), emulating perturbations favorable to EFM productivity As every species has its niche : a myco-specific approach

14 Research and Developement of the Resource How can we optimize EFM harvest in natural environment? 2.2) Modeling fruiting emergence to diminish field trips and harvest loss, and optimize the benefits of the pickers. Productivity maps can be produced using ecological factors, but annual production of fructification is link to climatic variation. Every species fructification response to a specific climatic sequence that has to be elucidated. Ex. : precipitations (mm), nb of major precipitation events, nb day of warm temp, soil temperature, cold-shock, A long-term initiative (>10 yrs) that should imply the amateur contribution.

15 Research investigations should begin by the cep: - Highly productive in managed plantations (White & Norway spruce) - Highly sensitive to «cold-shock»

16 Micodata : a webmap of EFM production in Castilla y Leon

17 Research and Developement of the Resource How can we create value from EFM? 3) Using a value chain approach to optimize socio-economic benefits of the development of the resource. Identify the actors, issues and constraints related to the activities of EFM sector; Document the chain of value creation (from local to international market). Target opportunities of development

18 Challenges and Perspectives Ultimately, the contribution of research should allow forest managers to integrate the EFM resource in strategic and tactical forest planning at national or regional scale, to strengthen to harvest operations, to target business opportunities and guide the social and regional development of the EFM sector in Quebec. Challenges : lack of funding for research in this new field, especially for long-term monitoring Strenghts : The increasing demand from forest owners to diversify their forests products (bottom-up) and the international demand for bio and terroir products from Quebec and Canada (top-down) will certainly help to bring consideration from policy makers for NTFPs and EFM.

19 Contact : Marie-France.Gevry@sbf.ulaval.ca