Apr Cover_Cover

fle findings as far north as Gotland (a Baltic island off the southeast Swedish coast) further suggest a close link to environmental change (Wedén et al. 2005). Assessment of high-resolution climatic data (Mitchell and Jones 2005) revealed spatial differences of ~0.5 ̊C between mean temperatures in Burgundy and our study site, which corresponded with temporal changes in mean temperatures observed in Europe between the early and late 20th century. An average warming trend of 0.5 ̊C per century, depending on seasonal, regional, and methodological constraints, would translate in an isothermal upward (northward) shift of ~100 miles (~110 km). Various model simulations forecast a substantially warmer 21st century (Fischer and Schär 2009), which would likely continue to alter the geographical, ecological, and physiological range of mycorrhizal fungi and their host plants. Projected environmental changes across the Mediterranean truffle foci – where future temperature and precipitation rates are expected to rapidly increase and decrease, respectively (Giorgi 2006) – will be critical for truffle species with limited dispersal capabilities, such as T melanosporum or T magnatum. Likewise, declining harvests will boost the economic value of truffles. Understanding different ecosystem responses to projected climate change (ie with opposing signals south and north of the Alps), as well as the complex interplay of biotic and abiotic factors (Figure 2), is thus of enormous scientific, economic, and gastronomic importance (Hall et al. 2003; Trappe and Claridge 2010). Our findings encourage rethinking the distribution and dynamics of European truffle populations, provide insight into the dark world of hypogeous fungi, and appear relevant to truffle cultivation efforts. Formerly time-consuming, expensive, and with little guarantee of success, truffle plantations may become more promising for T aestivum and even feasible for T melanosporum in a warmer climate north of the Alps. Ulf Büntgen, Willy Tegel, Simon Egli, Ulrich Stobbe, Ludger Sproll, and Nils C Stenseth Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape, Birmensdorf, Switzerland ([email protected]); Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, Bern, Switzerland; Institute for Forest Growth, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; Chair of Forest Botany, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway