Foraging in Plants: Do Plants Selectively Associate with more Effective Ectomycorrhizal Fungi?

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DEB-0108542GoldbergMost plants and mycorrhizal fungi have a mutually beneficial exchange of nutrients (from fungi) and carbohydrates (from plants). We propose that plants can increase their growth by choosing the most beneficial species of mycorrhizal fungus in each environment and therefore that their growth, competitive ability with other plants, and ultimate success is strongly influenced by these mutually positive interactions. This hypothesis assumes that 1) species of mycorrhizal fungi differ in their benefits to plant growth, 2) the beneficial effects of each fungal species depend on environmental conditions, and 3) the plants have the capability of "choosing" a particular fungal species. These assumptions that different fungi will be predominant in different environments. We will test this hypothesis using field and laboratory studies of tree seedlings and mycorrhizal fungi. First, we will survey the fungi species that associate with several species of forest seedlings in different field environments. Second, we will test the fungal species found in the field to quantify how effective they are at providing nutrients to plants in each environment and to determine the most beneficial fungus for each environment. Third, we will test whether seedlings "choose" the most beneficial fungus in each environment by planting seedlings with a mixture of all the fungi in each environment. Finally, we will test the importance of these processes in nature by manipulating the field environments and testing whether the fungal mutualist partners of each plant change according to the predictions generated from the previous experiments.