Mycorrhizal Ecology: Synthesis and Perspectives

Abstract

There is an increasing awareness among ecologists and mycorrhizologists that mycorrhizal fungi are an integral part of ecosystems and that, therefore, their ecological function needs to be understood. Recently, many breakthroughs have pointed to this. It has, for instance, been shown that mycorrhizal fungi contribute to plant diversity, nutrient cycling, acquisition to nutrient sources previously thought not to be available to plants and finally to ecosystem functioning. Moreover, because of their abundance and potential ecological function at the community and ecosystem levels, mycorrhizal fungi could well contribute to community and ecosystem responses to global changes. Also, based on the effects of the symbiosis on plant fitness, the population ecology, dynamics and evolution of many plants, are unlikely to be fully understood without considering their fungal symbionts, although this area has sadly received little treatment in comparison to studies on physiological effects of the symbiosis. Another fascinating aspect of the mycorrhizal symbiosis is the occurrence of the so-called wood-wide web in the soil formed by mycorrhizal hyphae that connect individual plants together. Such a web can allow resources to flow from one individual to another. If this occurs at an ecologically significant level, and this is still controversial, then this would completely change our view on how communities function. We have taken a plant ecologist's approach to this subject but researchers must not forget the ecology and evolution of mycorrhizal fungi themselves, since the lack of information in this area is currently greatly inhibiting the understanding of how the fungi and the structure of the mycorrhizal fungal communities influence plant ecology. This Volume is devoted to mycorrhizal ecology. It gives a summary of the most recent advances and breakthroughs that have been made in this field. We hope that it allows ecologists and researchers of the mycorrhizal symbiosis to get a broad picture of how the symbiosis fits into the broader field of ecology.