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1 - Imaging complex nutrient dynamics in mycelial networks
- from I - Imaging and modelling of fungi in the environment
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- By Daniel P. Bebber, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Monika Tlalka, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Juliet Hynes, Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Peter R. Darrah, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Anne Ashford, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sarah C. Watkinson, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Lynne Boddy, Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Mark D. Fricker, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford
- Edited by Geoffrey Gadd, University of Dundee, Sarah C. Watkinson, University of Oxford, Paul S. Dyer, University of Nottingham
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- Book:
- Fungi in the Environment
- Published online:
- 03 November 2009
- Print publication:
- 12 April 2007, pp 3-21
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Summary
Introduction
Basidiomycetes are the major agents of decomposition and nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems, occurring as both saprotrophs and mycorrhizal symbionts (Boddy & Watkinson, 1995; Smith & Read, 1997). The mycelium can scavenge and sequester nutrients from soil, concentrate nutrients from decomposing organic matter, relocate nutrients between different organic resources, and ultimately make nutrients available to plants to maintain primary productivity. Hyphae of both saprotrophic and ectomycorrhizal basidiomycetes that ramify through soil often aggregate to form rapidly extending, persistent, specialized high-conductivity channels termed cords (Rayner et al., 1994, 1999; Boddy, 1999; Watkinson, 1999; Cairney, 2005). These cords form complex networks that can extend for metres or hectares in the natural environment. The distribution of resources is extremely heterogeneous and unpredictable in space and time, and these fungi have developed species-specific strategies to search for new resources and to capitalize on resources landing on their mycelial systems (Chapter 6, this volume). Thus the architecture of the network is not static, but is continuously reconfigured in response to local nutritional or environmental cues, damage or predation, through a combination of growth, branching, fusion or regression (Boddy, 1999; Watkinson, 1999; Chapter 6, this volume). At this stage it is not clear whether specific global mechanisms exist to couple local sensory perception and responses over different length scales specifically to maximize the long-term success of the whole colony, or whether such collective behaviour is an emergent property arising solely from local interactions of individual hyphae.
New approaches to investigating the function of mycelial networks
- S. C. WATKINSON, L. BODDY, K. BURTON, P. R. DARRAH, D. EASTWOOD, M. D. FRICKER, M. TLALKA
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- Journal:
- Mycologist / Volume 19 / Issue 1 / February 2005
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 18 March 2005, pp. 11-17
- Print publication:
- February 2005
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- Article
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Fungi play a key role in ecosystem nutrient cycles by scavenging, concentrating, translocating and redistributing nitrogen. To quantify and predict fungal nitrogen redistribution, and assess the importance of the integrity of fungal networks in soil for ecosystem function, we need better understanding of the structures and processes involved. Until recently nitrogen translocation has been experimentally intractable owing to the lack of a suitable radioisotope tracer for nitrogen, and the impossibility of observing nitrogen translocation in real time under realistic conditions. We have developed an imaging method for recording the magnitude and direction of amino acid flow through the whole mycelial network as it captures, assimilates and channels its carbon and nitrogen resources, while growing in realistically heterogeneous soil microcosms. Computer analysis and modeling, based on these digitized video records, can reveal patterns in transport that suggest experimentally testable hypotheses. Experimental approaches that we are developing include genomics and stable isotope NMR to investigate where in the system nitrogen compounds are being acquired and stored, and where they are mobilized for transport or broken down. The results are elucidating the interplay between environment, metabolism, and the development and function of transport networks as mycelium forages in soil. The highly adapted and selected foraging networks of fungi may illuminate fundamental principles applicable to other supply networks.