.......................................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................................... v 1.0 BACKGROUND ..........................................................................................................

Ecology Letters (2010) 13: 394-407 Abstract Mycorrhizal fungi influence plant growth, local biodiversity and ecosystem function. Effects of the symbiosis on plants span the continuum from mutualism to parasitism. We sought to understand this variation in symbiotic function using meta-analysis with information theory-based model selection to assess the relative importance of factors in five cate...

A number of studies have shown that an association with mycorrhizal fungi can alter the outcome of interactions between plants and their enemies. While the directions of these effects vary, their strength suggests the need for greater attention to multispecies interactions among plant enemies, plants, and mycorrhizal fungi. We recognize that mycorrhizal fungi could effect plant enemies by impro...

Borax mining at the Rio Tinto boron mine in Boron, California has caused pollution of soil, desertification of local habitats, and loss of biodiversity due to severe boron contamination. I conducted a phytoremediation study to test the effects arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in association with native plant species. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi ...

A wide range of C3 and C4 plant species could acclimatize and grow under the impact of salinity stress. Symbiotic relationship between plant roots and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are widespread and are well known to ameliorate the influence of salinity stress on agro-ecosystem. In the present study, we sought to understand the phenomenon of variability on AMF symbiotic relationship on sa...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi can interconnect plant root systems through hyphal common mycorrhizal networks, which may influence the distribution of limiting mineral nutrients among interconnected individuals, potentially affecting competition and consequent size inequality. Using a microcosm model system, we investigated whether the members of Andropogon gerardii monocultures compete via commo...

Mycorrhizal plants from a variety of ecosystems have the capacity to take up organic forms of nitrogen, yet the fraction of plant nitrogen demand met by organic N (ON) uptake remains unclear. ON uptake by mycorrhizal plants is a biochemical process that involves multiple steps, including breakdown and uptake of soil ON by mycorrhizal fungi, internal transformation of ON, and transfer of N to th...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi can be beneficial for horticultural crops due to their nutrient acquisition properties and stimulation of the plant metabolism. The present work focuses on the prospects of AM fungi a) to solve plant nutritional problems, b) to induce flower development of ornamental plants, and c) to improve the health potential of crop plants for humans. Contribution of AM fu...

Almost all land plant species form a symbiosis with mycorrhizal fungi. These soil fungi provide nutrients and other services to plants in return for plant carbohydrates. The recent application of microbial metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, and metabolomics to plants and their immediate surroundings confirms the key role of mycorrhizal fungi, rhizosphere bacteria and fungi, and suggests a world...

Nitrogen (N) transfer among plants has been found where at least one plant can fix N2 . In nutrient-poor soils, where plants with contrasting nutrient-acquisition strategies (without N2 fixation) co-occur, it is unclear if N transfer exists and what promotes it. A novel multi-species microcosm pot experiment was conducted to quantify N transfer between arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM), ectomycorrhiz...