Carbon Allocation, Belowground Transfers, and Lipid Turnover in a Plant-Microbial Association

Calderón, Francisco J.; Schultz, David J.; Paul, Eldor A.

doi:10.2136/sssaj2011.0440

Cited by 21 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Most studies of whole‐plant C allocation involve isotopic C pulse–chase methods (Epron et al, ). Because C fluxes from leaves to roots and from roots to the rhizosphere vary across time‐scales from minutes to days, and at different rates depending on whether C is used for root metabolism, structural growth, rhizodeposition or fungal transfer (Calderón, Schultz, & Paul, ; Epron et al, ; Peng et al, ), variation in both the duration and timing of isotopic C pulses and chase periods is likely to influence TBCA (Pausch & Kuzyakov, ). However, we found no evidence that pulse or chase duration alters the TBCA‐RMF relationship.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does plant biomass partitioning reflect energetic investments in carbon and nutrient foraging?

Kong

Fridley

2019

Functional Ecology

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Studies of plant resource‐use strategies along environmental gradients often assume that dry matter partitioning represents an individual's energy investment in foraging for above‐ versus below‐ground resources. However, ecosystem‐level studies of total below‐ground carbon allocation (TBCA) in forests do not support the equivalency of energy (carbon) and dry matter partitioning, in part because allocation of carbon to below‐ground pools and fluxes that are not accounted for by root biomass (e.g., mycorrhizal hyphae, rhizodeposition; root and soil respiration) can be substantial. Here, we apply this reasoning to individual plants in controlled environments and ask whether dry matter partitioning below‐ground (root mass fraction, RMF) accurately reflects TBCA in studies of optimal partitioning theory. We quantified the relationship between RMF and TBCA in individual plants, using 311 observations from 51 studies that simultaneously measured both allocation variables. Our analysis included tests of whether the RMF‐TBCA relationship depended on mutualist soil microbes, plant growth form, age and study methodology including isotopic pulse–chase duration. We found that RMF was a poor proxy for below‐ground energy investment. This disconnect of RMF and TBCA was driven in part by plants of low RMF (<0.4) exhibiting significantly higher rates of root and soil respiration per unit root mass than plants of high RMF. Root colonization by mutualist microbes, including arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen‐fixing bacteria, increased TBCA by 5%–7%, and TBCA was lower in grasses than other species by 9%–16%. These patterns were evident for relationships assessed both within and between species. We conclude that optimal partitioning studies of plants along environmental gradients are likely to underestimate plant energy allocation below‐ground if the C costs of root and soil respiration are ignored, especially under conditions favouring low RMF. Because energy rather than biomass better reflects how assimilated C supports fitness, this omission of respired C suggests existing studies misrepresent the significance of below‐ground processes to plant function. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does plant biomass partitioning reflect energetic investments in carbon and nutrient foraging?

Kong

Fridley

2019

Functional Ecology

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“…This C ranges from 5% to 21% of photosynthetically fixed C (Marschner, 1995) as root exudates, root turnover, and the sloughing off of cells (Dennis et al, 2010). It is crucial to understand the factors that influence the microbial communities in this habitat due to the importance of plant-organism interactions in the rhizosphere for belowground C flow and allocation, ecosystem functioning, and nutrient cycling (Calderón et al, 2012;Singh et al, 2004). It is crucial to understand the factors that influence the microbial communities in this habitat due to the importance of plant-organism interactions in the rhizosphere for belowground C flow and allocation, ecosystem functioning, and nutrient cycling (Calderón et al, 2012;Singh et al, 2004).…”

Section: The Rhizosphere: Ecological Network Of Soil Microbial Commentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant-Soil Biota Interactions

Balestrini

Lumini

Borriello

et al. 2015

Soil Microbiology, Ecology and Biochemistry

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“…The carbon fixed by the plants is first distributed throughout the plant body and a significant portion, between 4 and 30% of the net photosynthesis production, is transferred to the AM symbionts (Paul and Kucey, 1981; Jakobsen and Rosendahl, 1990; Drigo et al, 2010; Lendenmann et al, 2011; Calderon et al, 2012). This movement from the plant to the fungus is usually quite fast, taking just a few hours (Johnson et al, 2002; Staddon et al, 2003; Olsson and Johnson, 2005; Leake et al, 2006).…”

Section: Carbon Allocation To the Associative Microbesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mycorrhizal hyphae as ecological niche for highly specialized hypersymbionts – or just soil free-riders?

Jansa¹,

Bukovská²,

Gryndler³

2013

Front. Plant Sci.

119

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Mycorrhizal fungi interconnect two different kinds of environments, namely the plant roots with the surrounding soil. This widespread coexistence of plants and fungi has important consequences for plant mineral nutrition, water acquisition, carbon allocation, tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses and interplant competition. Yet some current research indicates a number of important roles to be played by hyphae-associated microbes, in addition to the hyphae themselves, in foraging for and acquisition of soil resources and in transformation of organic carbon in the soil-plant systems. We critically review the available scientific evidence for the theory that the surface of mycorrhizal hyphae in soil is colonized by highly specialized microbial communities, and that these fulfill important functions in the ecology of mycorrhizal fungal hyphae such as accessing recalcitrant forms of mineral nutrients, and production of signaling and other compounds in the vicinity of the hyphae. The validity of another hypothesis will then be addressed, namely that the specific associative microbes are rewarded with exclusive access to fungal carbon, which would qualify them as hypersymbionts (i.e., symbionts of symbiotic mycorrhizal fungi). Thereafter, we ask whether recruitment of functionally different microbial assemblages by the hyphae is required under different soil conditions (questioning what evidence is available for such an effect), and we identify knowledge gaps requiring further attention.

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Carbon Allocation, Belowground Transfers, and Lipid Turnover in a Plant-Microbial Association

Abstract: The USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Cited by 21 publications

References 49 publications

Does plant biomass partitioning reflect energetic investments in carbon and nutrient foraging?

Does plant biomass partitioning reflect energetic investments in carbon and nutrient foraging?

Plant-Soil Biota Interactions

Mycorrhizal hyphae as ecological niche for highly specialized hypersymbionts – or just soil free-riders?

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