Mycorrhizal Networks

The last 25 years have seen significant advances in our understanding of the mycorrhizal fungi that colonize most of the world’s plants, and the mycorrhizal networks that form and extend into the soil beyond plant roots. In addition to a thorough review of recent research on mycorrhizal networks, this book provides readers with alternative perspectives. The book is organized into three sections: Network Structure, Nutrient Dynamics, and the Mutualism-Parasitism Continuum. Chapter 1 addresses the specificity of ectomycorrhizal symbionts and its role in plant communities, and provides an updated list of terms and definitions. Chapter 2 explores interactions between symbionts in mycorrhizal fungi networks, as well as interactions between fungal individuals. The second section of the book begins with the examination in Chapter 3 of extramatrical mycelium (mycelia beyond the root tips) in ectomycorrhizal fungi, focused on carbon and nitrogen. Chapter 4 reviews the influence of mycorrhizal networks on outcomes of plant competition in arbuscular mycorrhizal plant communities. Chapter 5 discusses nutrient movement between plants through networks with a focus on the magnitude, fate and importance of mycorrhiza-derived nutrients in ectomycorrhizal plants. Section 3 opens with a review of research on the role of ectomycorrhizal networks on seedling establishment in a primary successional habitat, in Chapter 6. The focus of Chapter 7 is on facilitation and antagonism in arbuscular mycorrhizal networks. Chapter 8 explores the unique networking dynamic of Alnus, which differs from most ectomycorrhizal plant hosts in forming isolated networks with little direct connections to networks of other host species in a forest. Chapter 9 argues that most experiments have not adequately tested the role of mycorrhizal networks on plant community dynamics, and suggests more tests to rule out alternative hypotheses to carbon movement between plants, especially those that include experimental manipulations of the mycorrhizal networks. Plant ecologists have accumulated a rich body of knowledge regarding nutrient acquisition by plants. The editor proposes that research indicating that mycorrhizal fungi compete for nutrients, which are then delivered to multiple hosts through mycorrhizal networks, represents an important new paradigm for plant ecologists.

INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER *WINNER of the 2021 Banff Mountain Book Prize in Mountain Environment and Natural History* *WINNER of the National Outdoor Book Award for Natural History Literature* *SHORTLISTED for the 2022 BC and Yukon Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Book Prize* *SHORTLISTED for the 2022 BC and Yukon Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award* *SHORTLISTED for the 2021 Science Writers and Communicators of Canada Book Award* A world-leading expert shares her amazing story of discovering the communication that exists between trees, and shares her own story of family and grief. Suzanne Simard is a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence; she’s been compared to Rachel Carson, hailed as a scientist who conveys complex, technical ideas in a way that is dazzling and profound. Her work has influenced filmmakers (the Tree of Souls in James Cameron’s Avatar), and her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide. Now, in her first book, Simard brings us into her world, the intimate world of the trees, in which she brilliantly illuminates the fascinating and vital truths—that trees are not simply the source of timber or pulp but are a complicated, interdependent circle of life; that forests are social, cooperative creatures connected through underground networks by which trees communicate their vitality and vulnerabilities with communal lives not that different from our own. Simard describes up close—in revealing and accessible ways—how trees, living side by side for hundreds of years, have evolved; how they perceive one another, learn and adapt their behaviors, recognize neighbors, and remember the past; how they have agency about their future; how they elicit warnings and mount defenses, compete and cooperate with one another with sophistication: characteristics previously ascribed to human intelligence, traits that are the essence of civil societies. And, at the center of it all, the Mother Trees: the mysterious, powerful forces that connect and sustain the others that surround them.Simard, born and raised in the rain forests of British Columbia, spent her days as a child cataloging the trees from the forest; she came to love and respect them and embarked on a journey of discovery and struggle. Her powerful story is one of love and loss, of observation and change, of risk and reward. And it is a testament to how deeply human scientific inquiry exists beyond data and technology: it’s about understanding who we are and our place in the world. In her book, as in her groundbreaking research, Simard proves the true connectedness of the Mother Tree to the forest, nurturing it in the profound ways that families and humansocieties nurture one another, and how these inseparable bonds enable all our survival.

The last 25 years have seen significant advances in our understanding of the mycorrhizal fungi that colonize most of the world's plants, and the mycorrhizal networks that form and extend into the soil beyond plant roots. In addition to a thorough review of recent research on mycorrhizal networks, this book provides readers with alternative perspectives. The book is organized into three sections: Network Structure, Nutrient Dynamics, and the Mutualism-Parasitism Continuum. Chapter 1 addresses the specificity of ectomycorrhizal symbionts and its role in plant communities, and provides an updated list of terms and definitions. Chapter 2 explores interactions between symbionts in mycorrhizal fungi networks, as well as interactions between fungal individuals. The second section of the book begins with the examination in Chapter 3 of extramatrical mycelium (mycelia beyond the root tips) in ectomycorrhizal fungi, focused on carbon and nitrogen. Chapter 4 reviews the influence of mycorrhizal networks on outcomes of plant competition in arbuscular mycorrhizal plant communities. Chapter 5 discusses nutrient movement between plants through networks with a focus on the magnitude, fate and importance of my corrhiza-derived nutrients in ectomycorrhizal plants. Section 3 opens with a review of research on the role of ectomycorrhizal networks on seedling establishment in a primary successional habitat, in Chapter 6. The focus of Chapter 7 is on facilitation and antagonism in arbuscular mycorrhizal networks. Chapter 8 explores the unique networking dynamic of Alnus, which differs from most ectomycorrhizal plant hosts in forming isolated networks with little direct connections to networks of other host species in a forest. Chapter 9 argues that most experiments have not adequately tested the role of mycorrhizal networks on plant community dynamics, and suggests more tests to rule out alternative hypotheses to carbon movement between plants, especially those that include experimental manipulations of the mycorrhizal networks. Plant ecologists have accumulated a rich body of knowledge regarding nutrient acquisition by plants. The editor proposes that research indicating that mycorrhizal fungi compete for nutrients, which are then delivered to multiple hosts through mycorrhizal networks, represents an important new paradigm for plant ecologists.

Mycorrhizal Mediation of Soil: Fertility, Structure, and Carbon Storage offers a better understanding of mycorrhizal mediation that will help inform earth system models and subsequently improve the accuracy of global carbon model predictions. Mycorrhizas transport tremendous quantities of plant-derived carbon below ground and are increasingly recognized for their importance in the creation, structure, and function of soils. Different global carbon models vary widely in their predictions of the dynamics of the terrestrial carbon pool, ranging from a large sink to a large source. This edited book presents a unique synthesis of the influence of environmental change on mycorrhizas across a wide range of ecosystems, as well as a clear examination of new discoveries and challenges for the future, to inform land management practices that preserve or increase below ground carbon storage. Synthesizes the abundance of research on the influence of environmental change on mycorrhizas across a wide range of ecosystems from a variety of leading international researchers Focuses on the specific role of mycorrhizal fungi in soil processes, with an emphasis on soil development and carbon storage, including coverage of cutting-edge methods and perspectives Includes a chapter in each section on future avenues for further study

In Mycorrhizal Planet, Michael Phillips offers new insights into the invisible world beneath our feet, explaining the crucial, symbiotic role that fungi play in everything from healthy plants to healthy soils to a healthy planet.--COVER.