{"id":1960,"date":"2017-01-16T17:33:33","date_gmt":"2017-01-16T17:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/?p=1960"},"modified":"2017-01-17T15:24:53","modified_gmt":"2017-01-17T15:24:53","slug":"investigating-the-transfer-of-carbon-between-trees-via-common-mycorrhizal-networks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/2017\/investigating-the-transfer-of-carbon-between-trees-via-common-mycorrhizal-networks\/","title":{"rendered":"Investigating the transfer of carbon between trees via common mycorrhizal networks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Figure 1:<\/strong> Common mycorrhizal network\u00a0 in a forest\u00a0(van der Heijden et al, 2014)<\/p>\n

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T. D. Peters\u00b9, D. L. Jones\u00b9, A. R. Smith\u00b9<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00b9School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography, Bangor University, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, UK<\/em><\/p>\n

What are Common Mycorrhizal Networks?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Almost all plants have symbiotic mycorrhizal relationships with fungi, which are beneficial to both the plant and the fungi. The word mycorrhizae, derived from Greek that means fungus-root, describes how the fungi colonises the roots of plants. Plants transfer carbon they fix from the atmosphere during photosynthesis to the symbiotic fungi, in exchange for nutrients and water. The fungal hyphae also add to belowground carbon storage by exuding carbon-containing compounds into the soil. In return, the fungi has access to a far larger pool of other nutrients, such as nitrogen, due to the vast surface area of hyphal mycelium, which far exceeds the surface area and therefore nutrient availability of the trees roots. By trading these resources, both organisms benefit and this increases their chances of surviving. A common mycorrhizal network (CMN) describes a situation when the fungal network links plants together belowground. These networks, which plants use for communicating the presence of pests and diseases and to release chemicals that provide plants with a competitive advantage over other non-mycorrhizal plants and referred to often as the Wood Wide Web (Figure 1).<\/p>\n

Why are they important?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Forest ecosystems represent one of the greatest stores of terrestrial carbon on the planet. Within this, Common Mycorrhizal Networks play an important role in regulating the storage and release of this carbon. Understanding the mechanics of these processes can help us to better understand biogeochemical pathways, enable us to manage forests to promote greater carbon storage and understand how forest ecosystems will respond to a changing climate. In addition, the CMNs mediate overstorey-understorey competition and competition amongst and between forest tree species. \u00a0Underground signals carried through common mycelial networks can also warn neighbouring plants of imminent attack from pest and diseases as well as unfavourable condition such as drought and as such are essential members of forest ecosystem communities.<\/p>\n

Hypothesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Common mycorrhizal networks connecting trees of the same species will transfer less recently photosynthesised carbon than those of differing species<\/p>\n

Why is it important to have this knowledge?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Climate change is probably the most significant problem faced by humanity in the 21st<\/sup> century. Atmospheric carbon dioxide has increased by 31% since the Industrial revolution rising from 280 ppm in 1900 to 400 ppm at the present day. Soil is the largest terrestrial pool of carbon dioxide although we know very little about the complex belowground carbon cycle. We know that plants fix atmospheric carbon dioxide in the soil and exchange this resource with mycorrhizal fungal symbionts. Mycorrhizal fungi are a significant component of soil microbial biomass and therefore carbon storage within soil. Small changes in soil carbon storage could therefore have a large effect on atmospheric carbon concentrations. Specifically my study will be investigating temperate forest soils and temperate forests globally are currently the only forest biome, which is increasing in size annually. If we can understand how best to plant and manage forests to increase the belowground carbon storage then we may mitigate some of the increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Results from this investigation will start to quantify the differences in belowground carbon transfer of trees in monoculture and mixed species forests.<\/p>\n

What we did\"Figure <\/strong><\/p>\n

We will refer to the three tree species subsequently, as follows:<\/p>\n