Time for goodies - Spatial-temporal aspects of soil resource acquisition in mycorrhizal symbiosis
| Name: | Time for goodies - Spatial-temporal aspects of soil resource acquisition in mycorrhizal symbiosis |
|---|---|
| Researchers: |
Püschel David (researcher) Sudová Radka (member in research team) Rydlová Jana (member in research team) |
| Provider: | GA ČR |
| Number: | 26-20697S |
| Realization from: | 2026 |
| Realization to: | 2028 |
| Summary: | This project uses pot experiments to investigate the spatial-temporal dynamics of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) functioning in two model processes. First, we investigate how long it takes the morphologically distinct hyphae of different AM fungal taxa to deliver N and water from newly emerging sources to plants. This will be accomplished by providing isotopically labeled sources of N and water to root-excluding patches of soil, accessible only to fungal hyphae. Sequential sampling of biomass or transpired water should provide temporal acquisition curves of a given resource for individual fungal taxa. Second, we employ high-precision moisture dataloggers to study water dynamics in mycorrhizal soils and investigate whether the presence of AM hyphae accelerates water translocation through soils. We start with a simple model of root-free soils of three different textures in which hyphal networks are established or absent, and then increase the complexity of the system by including plant roots of different morphology and physiological activity. |