Carbon allocation to mycorrhizas in a forest ecosystem: developing a real-time measuring method for mycorrhizal respiration

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K15289
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Forest science
• Research Institution: Tokyo University of Agriculture
• Principal Investigator: IMAI Nobuo 東京農業大学, 地域環境科学部, 准教授 (00722638)
• Research Collaborator: KOMINAMI Yuji
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 菌根菌 / 森林 / 炭素動態 / 呼吸 / 土壌微生物

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Soil respiration consists of CO2 fluxes from free-living microbes, plant roots, and mycorrhizal fungi. Understanding the spatio-temporal pattern of CO2 fluxes from the three components can contribute to better understanding of soil organic matter dynamics, and in turn, prediction of global carbon dynamics. Many studies have measured root respiration and soil microbial respiration. However, mycorrhizal fungal respiration has been rarely measured, largely due to the lack of appropriate measuring method.
Here we developed a measuring method for ecto-mycorrhizal fungal respiration by using micro-pore mesh in-growth core. We first, in the field, examined the effects of host plants and soil nutrient availability on ecto-mycorrhizal fungal respiration.

Free Research Field

植物生態学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

これまで、菌根菌への炭素配分はホストである植物根の呼吸と一括りにされ無視されてきた。そうした中本課題は、高精度・経時的に菌根菌呼吸を測定する手法を確立した。また、菌根菌呼吸速度が大きな日・季節変動を示すことも明らかにした。本課題は、菌根菌の新たな生態を明らかにし、菌根菌と根の呼吸を一括りにしている現行の土壌呼吸モデルに再評価を迫るものである。