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What is the evidence that that the structure of a plant community is determined by the diversity of the mycorrhizal fungi in the soil?
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What is the evidence that that the structure of a plant community is determined by the diversity of the mycorrhizal fungi in the soil? Plants are the cornerstone of the global ecosystem. Being primary producers they convert energy from the sun into the creation of carbon compounds that serve as the fuel for life. However this cornerstone has an unappreciated yet vital set of foundations, mycorrhizal fungi that aid in the collection of nutrients needed for assimilation in return for some of the plants organic compounds. In this paper I shall describe the pathway science has taken as it tries to understand more about the complex interactions between plants and fungi, from the initial questions raised by Grime (1987) regarding the necessity of mycorrhizal fungi, to the landmark studies by Simard (1997) and Heijden (1998) and finally onto the effects man is having on mycorrhizal biodiversity and its implications for the...
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