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Dieren en planten

Grass Family   Marram grass   Fungi, mushrooms   Mushrooms   Ecology of mushrooms   Mushrooms on the beach ridge   Mushrooms on salt marshes   Mushrooms in dunes   Mushrooms in dune woods   Mushrooms on scanty grasslands   

Water en land

Dune areas   Dunes (biotope)   Forests   Forest (biotope)   

Mens en Milieu

Nutrients   Nitrogen compounds   Ecological processes   Food chains   Primary production   Secondary production   Eutrophication   Nature policy   Red Lists   Pollution   Sulfur   
Earth star, foto fitis, sytske dijksen

Mushrooms in coastal regions

Mushrooms are not known to grow on the beach itself. However, unusual species grow in the beach ridge, living off of the dead roots of marram grass. Examples are dune brittlestem, Melanoleuca cinereifolia and stinkhorn. You find lots of other mushrooms in dunes further away from the coast which are otherwise very rare in other biotopes. Examples are collared earthstars, the waxcap Hygrocybe acutoconica, butter waxcaps and morels. Since coastal regions take much longer to freeze than inland, mushrooms are often found in the dunes practically year round. Dune woods are renowned for their abundance of mushrooms.

  • Mushrooms and the environment
    Mycena adonis, foto fitis, sytske dijksen

    Mushrooms are sensitive to air pollution. Nitrogen and sulfuric compounds in particular have harmful effects on fungi. Despite the decrease in air pollution, the number of mushrooms in Dutch forests has still been declining since 2000. Even those species less sensitive to nitrogen have been declining, although to a lesser extent. Of the 3500 species found in the Netherlands, 500 are considered threatened and 200 species have disappeared.
    In addition to air pollution, eutrophication and disturbances also play an important role in the decline.

  • Did you know that...
    Hyphes, the alphawolf

    ... the name of the Dutch website Hyves was derived from the biological term hypha (hyfe in Dutch), which is another name for mycelium. The manner in which mycelia advances underground is the same way the website works - an ever-growing network of 'friends'. Actually, 'hyves' was a second choice. The founders wanted to name the system 'hives' (as in bee hives), but that domain was already taken.