Dirt cheap: an experimental test of controls on resource exchange in an ectomycorrhizal symbiosis

Dirt cheap: an experimental test of controls on resource exchange in an ectomycorrhizal symbiosis

Summary To distinguish among hypotheses on the importance of resource‐exchange ratios in outcomes of mutualisms, we measured resource (carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P)) transfers and their ratios, between Pinus taeda seedlings and two ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungal species, Rhizopogon roseo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The New phytologist Vol. 237; no. 3; pp. 987 - 998
Main Authors: Horning, Amber L., Koury, Stephanie S., Meachum, Mariah, Kuehn, Kevin A., Hoeksema, Jason D.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-02-2023
Subjects:
Availability
Biomass
Carbon
ectomycorrhizal fungi
Ectomycorrhizas
Environmental chambers
Exchanging
Fluxes
Fungi
Hypotheses
Laboratory experimentation
light
Light effects
mutualisms
Mycorrhizae
Nitrogen
Nutrient availability
Phosphorus
Pine trees
Pinus - microbiology
Pinus taeda
Plant Roots - microbiology
Plants
Population decline
Ratios
resource exchange
Seedlings
Soil
Soil nutrients
Symbiosis
Test chambers
Pinus taeda
resource exchange
mutualisms
light
ectomycorrhizal fungi
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Summary:Summary To distinguish among hypotheses on the importance of resource‐exchange ratios in outcomes of mutualisms, we measured resource (carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P)) transfers and their ratios, between Pinus taeda seedlings and two ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungal species, Rhizopogon roseolus and Pisolithus arhizus in a laboratory experiment. We evaluated how ambient light affected those resource fluxes and ratios over three time periods (10, 20, and 30 wk) and the consequences for plant and fungal biomass accrual, in environmental chambers. Our results suggest that light availability is an important factor driving absolute fluxes of N, P, and C, but not exchange ratios, although its effects vary among EM fungal species. Declines in N : C and P : C exchange ratios over time, as soil nutrient availability likely declined, were consistent with predictions of biological market models. Absolute transfer of P was an important predictor of both plant and fungal biomass, consistent with the excess resource‐exchange hypothesis, and N transfer to plants was positively associated with fungal biomass. Altogether, light effects on resource fluxes indicated mixed support for various theoretical frameworks, while results on biomass accrual better supported the excess resource‐exchange hypothesis, although among‐species variability is in need of further characterization.
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ISSN:0028-646X
1469-8137
DOI:10.1111/nph.18603