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Project properties |
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| Title | Does climate change prolong mushroom fruiting? |
| Group | Mathematical and Statistical Methods Group |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 24-39 TBD |
| Supervisor(s) | Lia Hemerik, Thom Kuyper |
| Examiner(s) | Lia Hemerik, Thom Kuyper |
| Contact info | lia.hemerik@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2019/05/01 |
| End date | 2021/05/01 |
| Description | As a consequence of climate change (warmer and wetter or dryer weather) it could be possible that the period over which mushrooms appear changes. Warmer autumns could extend the period during which mushrooms can be observed. Wetter(/dryer) summers could lead to earlier(/later) dates in summer when the first mushrooms appear. Such kind of changes in the duration of mushroom fruiting have been reported from Great Britain and Norway. In The Netherlands we have access to the largest data base on mushroom occurrence. It provides, therefore, the best possibilities to test the hypothesis of prolonged mushroom fruiting. It would also be possible to investigate whether fungal ecology and habitat choice affect the sensitivity to climate change. For instance, is mushroom fruiting more prolonged in autumn for species that grow under deciduous trees than under evergreen trees? Are effects of climate change more conspicuous in the southern or the northern part of The Netherlands? Are species from open habitats (dunes, grasslands) more sensitive to climate change than species from closed habitats (forests)? Are species with a southern distribution more sensitive than boreal species? Are species that are characteristics for winters forming mushrooms at a later date? |
| Used skills | Exploring literature, Writing, Analysing data with statistical tools |
| Requirements | You should have completed the courses Statistics 1 and Statistics 2 and preferably have done Advanced Statistics. |