Journal Article

Quantitative assessment of the differential impacts of arbuscular and ectomycorrhiza on soil carbon cycling

Marcel G. A. van der Heijden, Asem A. Akhmetzhanova, Johannes H. C. Cornelissen, Mikhail I. Makarov, Peter M. van Bodegom, Nadejda A. Soudzilovskaia, Vladimir G. Onipchenko, Mikhail N. Maslov

2015

Overview

A significant fraction of carbon stored in the Earth's soil moves through arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) and ectomycorrhiza (EM). The impacts of AM and EM on the soil carbon budget are poorly understood. We propose a method to quantify the mycorrhizal contribution to carbon cycling, explicitly accounting for the abundance of plant-associated and extraradical mycorrhizal mycelium. We discuss the need to acquire additional data to use our method, and present our new global database holding information on plant species-by-site intensity of root colonization by mycorrhizas. We demonstrate that the degree of mycorrhizal fungal colonization has globally consistent patterns across plant species. This suggests that the level of plant species-specific root colonization can be used as a plant trait. To exemplify our method, we assessed the differential impacts of AM : EM ratio and EM shrub encroachment on carbon stocks in sub-arctic tundra. AM and EM affect tundra carbon stocks at different magnitudes, and via partly distinct dominant pathways: via extraradical mycelium (both EM and AM) and via mycorrhizal impacts on above- and belowground biomass carbon (mostly AM). Our method provides a powerful tool for the quantitative assessment of mycorrhizal impact on local and global carbon cycling processes, paving the way towards an improved understanding of the role of mycorrhizas in the Earth's carbon cycle.

• Publisher: New Phytologist Trust,Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subject: arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi / Arbuscular mycorrhizas / belowground biomass / Biomass / Carbon / Carbon - metabolism / Carbon Cycle / carbon sinks / Colonization / Cycles / Earth / Ecosystems / ectomycorrhizae / ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi / Ectomycorrhizas / Encroachment / extraradical mycelium / Flowers & plants / Fungi / intraradical mycelium / Methods / Mycelium / Mycorrhizae - metabolism / Mycorrhizal fungi / Plant roots / Plant Roots - metabolism / Plant Roots - microbiology / Plant species / plant trait / Plants / Plants - metabolism / Plants - microbiology / root length colonization / root tips / shrubs / Soil / Soil - chemistry / Soil ecology / Soil fungi / Soil Microbiology / Species / Stocks / sub‐arctic ecosystems / Symbiosis / Tundra / vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizae