1
|
Camenzind T, Aguilar-Trigueros CA, Heuck MK, Maerowitz-McMahan S, Rillig MC, Cornwell WK, Powell JR. Progressing beyond colonization strategies to understand arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal life history. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2024. [PMID: 39229862 DOI: 10.1111/nph.20090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2024] [Accepted: 08/07/2024] [Indexed: 09/05/2024]
Abstract
Knowledge of differential life-history strategies in arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi is relevant for understanding the ecology of this group and its potential role in sustainable agriculture and carbon sequestration. At present, AM fungal life-history theories often focus on differential investment into intra- vs extraradical structures among AM fungal taxa, and its implications for plant benefits. With this Viewpoint we aim to expand these theories by integrating a mycocentric economics- and resource-based life-history framework. As in plants, AM fungal carbon and nutrient demands are stoichiometrically coupled, though uptake of these elements is spatially decoupled. Consequently, investment in morphological structures for carbon vs nutrient uptake is not in competition. We argue that understanding the ecology and evolution of AM fungal life-history trade-offs requires increased focus on variation among structures foraging for the same element, that is within intra- or extraradical structures (in our view a 'horizontal' axis), not just between them ('vertical' axis). Here, we elaborate on this argument and propose a range of plausible life-history trade-offs that could lead to the evolution of strategies in AM fungi, providing testable hypotheses and creating opportunities to explain AM fungal co-existence, and the context-dependent effects of AM fungi on plant growth and soil carbon dynamics.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tessa Camenzind
- Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, Altensteinstr. 6, 14195, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Carlos A Aguilar-Trigueros
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, 40014, Jyväskylä, Finland
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, 2751, Australia
| | - Meike K Heuck
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, 2751, Australia
| | - Solomon Maerowitz-McMahan
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, 2751, Australia
| | - Matthias C Rillig
- Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, Altensteinstr. 6, 14195, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Will K Cornwell
- Ecology and Evolution Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth, and Environmental Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, 2052, Australia
| | - Jeff R Powell
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, 2751, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Chagnon PL. Advancing mycorrhizal trait-based ecology using both pure cultures and community-level traits. Mol Ecol 2023; 32:33-36. [PMID: 36403229 DOI: 10.1111/mec.16790] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2022] [Revised: 11/09/2022] [Accepted: 11/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Traits are the intermediate by which species respond to environmental filters and influence ecosystem functions. With the myriad of biogeochemical processes controlled by fungi, the past decade has witnessed a rising interest in applying trait-based approaches, core to the toolkit of plant and animal ecophysiologists, to fungi. One of the first challenges to tackle when working on fungal ecophysiology is to circumscribe the very definition of what we consider a fungal trait. Traits are characteristics/features possessed by an individual that can influence how it interacts with its environment. Here, the individual scale is both important, and problematic. Important because the very goal of comparative ecology is to measure traits on individuals belonging to known species. This allows us to populate trait databases, and syntheses of such databases can reveal key trade-offs and trait syndromes that govern species' life-histories. The scale of the individual is problematic, however, because it is hard to define for soil fungi, and because a rare minority of fungi can be sampled at the individual scale in the environment (e.g., macroscopic sporocarps, ectomycorrhizal root tips, lichen thalli). Beyond this minority, the individual organisms can only be accessed/sampled through establishing fungal cultures, which probably represents one of the main bottlenecks in the development of fungal trait databases. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Zhang et al. (2022) show how interesting insights in fungal trait-based ecology can be gained by working at the community level.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Pierre-Luc Chagnon
- Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Bell CA, Magkourilou E, Urwin PE, Field KJ. Disruption of carbon for nutrient exchange between potato and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi enhanced cyst nematode fitness and host pest tolerance. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2022; 234:269-279. [PMID: 35020195 PMCID: PMC9304131 DOI: 10.1111/nph.17958] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2021] [Accepted: 12/16/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Plants simultaneously interact with a range of biotrophic symbionts, ranging from mutualists such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), to parasites such as the potato cyst nematode (PCN). The exchange of mycorrhizal-acquired nutrients for plant-fixed carbon (C) is well studied; however, the impact of competing symbionts remains underexplored. In this study, we examined mycorrhizal nutrient and host resource allocation in potato with and without AMF and PCN using radioisotope tracing, whilst determining the consequences of such allocation. The presence of PCN disrupted C for nutrient exchange between plants and AMF, with plant C overwhelmingly obtained by the nematodes. Despite this, AMF maintained transfer of nutrients on PCN-infected potato, ultimately losing out in their C for nutrient exchange with the host. Whilst PCN exploited the greater nutrient reserves to drive population growth on AMF-potato, the fungus imparted tolerance to allow the host to bear the parasitic burden. Our findings provide important insights into the belowground dynamics of plant-AMF symbioses, where simultaneous nutritional and nonnutritional benefits conferred by AMF to hosts and their parasites are seldom considered in plant community dynamics. Our findings suggest this may be a critical oversight, particularly in the consideration of C and nutrient flows in plant and soil communities.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Christopher A. Bell
- Faculty of Biological SciencesSchool of BiologyUniversity of LeedsLeedsLS2 9JTUK
| | - Emily Magkourilou
- Faculty of Biological SciencesSchool of BiologyUniversity of LeedsLeedsLS2 9JTUK
- Plants, Photosynthesis and SoilSchool of BiosciencesUniversity of SheffieldSheffieldS10 2TNUK
| | - P. E. Urwin
- Faculty of Biological SciencesSchool of BiologyUniversity of LeedsLeedsLS2 9JTUK
| | - Katie J. Field
- Plants, Photosynthesis and SoilSchool of BiosciencesUniversity of SheffieldSheffieldS10 2TNUK
| |
Collapse
|