Interplant carbon and nitrogen transfers mediated by common arbuscular mycorrhizal networks: beneficial pathways for system functionality

Xie Luo; Yining Liu; Siyue Li; Xinhua He

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1169310

Interplant carbon and nitrogen transfers mediated by common arbuscular mycorrhizal networks: beneficial pathways for system functionality

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Jul 12:14:1169310. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1169310. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Xie Luo^{1

2}, Yining Liu², Siyue Li¹, Xinhua He^{2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ School of Environmental Ecology and Biological Engineering, Institute of Changjiang Water Environment and Ecological Security, Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Process of Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Novel Reactor and Green Chemical Technology, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan, China.
² National Base of International Science and Technology (S&T) Collaboration on Water Environmental Monitoring and Simulation in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region and Centre of Excellence for Soil Biology, College of Resources and Environment, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
³ School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
⁴ Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, United States.

Abstract

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are ubiquitous in soil and form nutritional symbioses with ~80% of vascular plant species, which significantly impact global carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) biogeochemical cycles. Roots of plant individuals are interconnected by AMF hyphae to form common AM networks (CAMNs), which provide pathways for the transfer of C and N from one plant to another, promoting plant coexistence and biodiversity. Despite that stable isotope methodologies (¹³C, ¹⁴C and ¹⁵N tracer techniques) have demonstrated CAMNs are an important pathway for the translocation of both C and N, the functioning of CAMNs in ecosystem C and N dynamics remains equivocal. This review systematically synthesizes both laboratory and field evidence in interplant C and N transfer through CAMNs generated through stable isotope methodologies and highlights perspectives on the system functionality of CAMNs with implications for plant coexistence, species diversity and community stability. One-way transfers from donor to recipient plants of 0.02-41% C and 0.04-80% N of recipient C and N have been observed, with the reverse fluxes generally less than 15% of donor C and N. Interplant C and N transfers have practical implications for plant performance, coexistence and biodiversity in both resource-limited and resource-unlimited habitats. Resource competition among coexisting individuals of the same or different species is undoubtedly modified by such C and N transfers. Studying interplant variability in these transfers with ¹³C and ¹⁵N tracer application and natural abundance measurements could address the eco physiological significance of such CAMNs in sustainable agricultural and natural ecosystems.

Keywords: 13C; 15N; carbon and nitrogen cycling; interplant nutrient exchange; plant coexistence; resource competition; resource share.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This work received financial support from the Key Laboratory of Eco-environments in Three Gorges Reservoir Region (Ministry of Education), Chongqing Key Laboratory of Plant Resource Conservation and Germplasm Innovation, National Base of International S&T Collaboration on Water Environmental Monitoring and Simulation in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region and Centre of Excellence for Soil Biology at Southwest University to XH, and the Scientific Research Foundation of Wuhan Institute of Technology to XL (22QD65). Researches in the authors’ laboratory are jointly supported by projects from the Key Laboratory of Eco-environments in Three Gorges Reservoir Region (Ministry of Education), Chongqing Key Laboratory of Plant Resource Conservation and Germplasm Innovation, National Base of International S&T Collaboration on Water Environmental Monitoring and Simulation in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region and Centre of Excellence for Soil Biology at Southwest University to XH, and the Scientific Research Foundation of Wuhan Institute of Technology to XL (22QD65).