Mycorrhizal mycelium as a global carbon pool

For more than 400 million years, mycorrhizal fungi and plants have formed partnerships that are crucial to the emergence and functioning of global ecosystems. The importance of these symbiotic fungi for plant nutrition is well established. However, the role of mycorrhizal fungi in transporting carbon into soil systems on a global scale remains under-explored. This is surprising given that ∼75% of terrestrial carbon is stored belowground and mycorrhizal fungi are stationed at a key entry point of carbon into soil food webs. Here, we analyze nearly 200 datasets to provide the first global quantitative estimates of carbon allocation from plants to the mycelium of mycorrhizal fungi. We estimate that global plant…

• SR
  Sight Research UK

  Awards: NE/X000273/1, NE/S009663/1
• NR
  National Research Foundation
• FW
  Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
• NO
  Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek

  Award: 016.161.318
• UH
  Universiteit Hasselt
• H2
  Horizon 2020 Framework Programme
• NE
  Natural Environment Research Council

  Awards: NE/S009663/1, NE/S009663/1, NE/X000273/1
• HE
  H2020 European Research Council

  Awards: 865225, H2020