Speaker Series February 12th at 7:30pm
Please join us on Zoom on Wednesday, February 12th at 7:30pm for our online Speaker Series.
Plant response to arbuscular mycorrhizal networks differs indoors vs. outdoors
Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi associate with 70% of plant species and increase the availability of nutrients in exchange for plant sugars. Research determining whether plants benefit from AM fungi is derived predominantly from controlled environments that may not represent the undisturbed field environment. To determine whether plant responses are equivalent between controlled greenhouse and field environments, we quantified 9 plant species responses to severing access to the AM network in both environments using a mesh barrier (48μm) preventing root entry but enabling ingrowth of AM hyphae. We found that in the greenhouse severing access to AM networks reduced plant biomass, but in the field severing increased plant biomass. The lack of correlation in plant mycorrhizal responsiveness between environments suggests that controlled environments may need to account for the surrounding plant density, plant community, and the larger carbon cost from AM networks in the field to observe field relevant plant responses.
Olivier Herlin recently graduated with a Master of Science focusing on the symbiotic interactions with plants and mycorrhizal fungi at the University of Guelph. During the past years Olivier has been working for The Collective Forager, which maintains food forest landscapes and creates managed forest plans within the city of Toronto and Ontario. He has also enjoyed learning and teaching outdoors at various places including Parks Canada, the P.I.N.E. project, and at Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. Olivier is interested in how humans can be beneficial to their environment and how we can reverse the biodiversity crises occurring on a global scale.
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