Mycorrhizal fungi form extensive mycelia in soil and play significant roles in most soil ecosystems. The estimation of their biomasses is thus of importance in order to understand their possible role in soil nutrient processes. For arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi the signature fatty acid 16:1ω5 provides a new and promising tool for the estimation of AM fungal biomass in soil and roots. For ectomycorrhizal fungi 18:2ω6,9 dominates among the fatty acids and can be used as an indicator of mycelial biomass of these fungi in soil in experimental systems. In biomass estimation primarily the phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) are suitable. Through the use of specific PLFAs it is possible to study interactions between mycorrhizal mycelia and bacteria in soil as well as between AM fungal mycelia and mycelia of saprophytic and parasitic fungi in soil and in roots. AM fungi, in particular, store a large proportion of their energy as lipids and by using the signature fatty acids it is possible to determine the relation between membrane and storage lipids, which could be an indication of energy storage levels. Various aspects of how the fatty acid signatures can be used for studies related to questions of biomass distribution and nutritional status of mycorrhizal fungi are discussed.

Foraging strategies, the cost-benefit associated with the search for new resources, have only begun to be explored in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). We show the use of (13)C-labelling, via shoot photosynthesis, of the 16:1omega5 fatty acid biomarker (the dominant and rather specific fatty acid in AMF storage lipids) to study the immediate patterns of carbon allocation to fungal lipids in response to inorganic and organic nutrient amendments. Signature fatty acid measurements, the incorporation of the label and complementary hyphal length density measurements showed that the extraradical mycelium of AMF proliferated in response to all the amendments provided whereas its development into unamended sand was minor in all treatments. We demonstrate the foraging capacity of AMF, linked to plant carbon, through their hyphal proliferation and accumulation of energy reserves.

Carbon transfer between plants via a common extraradical network of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal hyphae has been investigated abundantly, but the results remain equivocal. We studied the transfer of carbon through this fungal network, from a Medicago truncatula donor plant to a receiver (1) M. truncatula plant growing under decreased light conditions and (2) M. truncatula seedling. Autotrophic plants were grown in bicompartmented Petri plates, with their root systems physically separated, but linked by the extraradical network of Glomus intraradices. A control Myc-/Nod- M. truncatula plant was inserted in the same compartment as the receiver plant. Following labeling of the donor plant with 13CO2, 13C was recovered in the donor plant shoots and roots, in the extraradical mycelium and in the receiver plant roots. Fatty acid analysis of the receiver's roots further demonstrated 13C enrichment in the fungal-specific lipids, while almost no label was detected in the plant-specific compounds. We conclude that carbon was transferred from the donor to the receiver plant via the AM fungal network, but that the transferred carbon remained within the intraradical AM fungal structures of the receiver's root and was not transferred to the receiver's plant tissues.

The influence of ectomycorrhizal fungi on the soil bacterial community was studied by growing pine seedlings in artificial soils consisting of a peat/sand mixture amended with microcline, biotite or apatite. In the microcline‐amended and unamended soils both Suillus variegatus and Paxillus involutus reduced bacterial activity as measured by thymidine incorporation. S. variegatus grew best in the biotite soil, where it increased both bacterial activity and biomass as measured by microscopic counts and specific bacterial fatty acids. Further, the positive influence of S. variegatus on the bacteria in the biotite soil modified the bacterial community, as reflected in the bacteria‐specific phospholipid fatty acid composition. The increases in bacterial biomass and activity and changes in the bacterial community induced by S. variegatus may be due to the production of organic substances by this fungus, as indicated by an 10‐fold increase in soil‐solution citric acid. Two isolates of S. variegatus and an unidentified ectomycorrhizal fungus all tended to stimulate bacterial activity in the apatite‐amended soil in compartments isolated from roots by a mesh. We conclude that the same ectomycorrhizal fungus may stimulate bacterial growth under certain conditions and inhibit bacterial growth under other conditions.