Switching belowground partners: biogeochemical consequences of mycorrhizal type in aspen forests

微生物对人类的健康、食物和与之相互作用的生态系统至关重要。在生活在土壤中的微生物中，真菌是养分和碳循环的关键角色。真菌分解有机物，并通过菌根--根部和菌根真菌之间的共生--影响植物的营养和生长。这项拟议的研究解决了土壤真菌可能如何调节与广泛分布的树种的当前范围转移相关的土壤变化。这项研究很重要，因为它将评估树木和真菌之间的相互作用如何控制陆地系统的碳循环，而树木和真菌之间的相互作用是评估气候变化影响时经常被忽视的关键环节。

Microbes are paramount in the health of humans, their food and the ecosystems with which they interact. Of the microbes that live in soil, fungi are key players in cycling of nutrients and carbon. Fungi decompose organic matter, and through mycorrhizas, a symbiosis between roots and mycorrhizal fungi, they affect the nutrition and growth of plants. The proposed research addresses how soil fungi may mediate changes to soils associated with current range shifts of a widespread tree species. This research is important because it will evaluate how carbon cycling in terrestrial systems is controlled by interactions between trees and fungi, a critical link often overlooked when assessing the impacts of climate change.