Journal
MYCORRHIZA
Volume 27, Issue 1, Pages 35-51Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00572-016-0731-2
Keywords
Belowground carbon (C) allocation; C-13 isotope labelling; Glomeromycota; Medicago truncatula; Rhizophagus irregularis; Shade
Categories
Funding
- Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports [LK11224]
- Czech Science Foundation [14-19191S]
- J.E. Purkyne fellowship
- long-term research development programmes [RVO 61388971, RVO 67985939]
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Quantification of carbon (C) fluxes in mycorrhizal plants is one of the important yet little explored tasks of mycorrhizal physiology and ecology. (CO2)-C-13 pulse-chase labelling experiments are increasingly being used to track the fate of C in these plant-microbial symbioses. Nevertheless, continuous monitoring of both the below- and aboveground CO2 emissions remains a challenge, although it is necessary to establish the full C budget of mycorrhizal plants. Here, a novel CO2 collection system is presented which allows assessment of gaseous CO2 emissions (including isotopic composition of their C) from both belowground and shoot compartments. This system then is used to quantify the allocation of recently fixed C in mycorrhizal versus nonmycorrhizal Medicago truncatula plants with comparable biomass and mineral nutrition. Using this system, we confirmed substantially greater belowground C drain in mycorrhizal versus nonmycorrhizal plants, with the belowground CO2 emissions showing large variation because of fluctuating environmental conditions in the glasshouse. Based on the assembled C-13 budget, the C allocation to the mycorrhizal fungus was between 2.3% (increased C-13 allocation to mycorrhizal substrate) and 2.9% (reduction of C-13 allocation to mycorrhizal shoots) of the plant gross photosynthetic production. Although the C allocation to shoot respiration (measured during one night only) did not differ between the mycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal plants under our experimental conditions, it presented a substantial part (similar to 10%) of the plant C budget, comparable to the amount of CO2 released belowground. These results advocate quantification of both above- and belowground CO2 emissions in future studies.
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