Dirt cheap: An experimental test of controls on resource exchange in an ectomycorrhizal symbiosis

1. To distinguish among hypotheses on the importance of resource-exchange ratios in outcomes of mutualisms, we measured resource (carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P)) transfers, and their ratios, between Pinus taeda seedlings and two ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungal species, Rhizopogon roseolus and Pisolithus arhizus in a laboratory experiment.

2. We evaluated how ambient light affected those resource fluxes and ratios over 3 time periods (10, 20, and 30 weeks), and the consequences for plant and fungal biomass accrual, in environmental chambers.

3. Our results suggest that light availability is an important factor driving absolute fluxes of N, P, and C, but not exchange ratios, although its effects vary among EM fungal species. Declines in N:C and P:C exchange ratios over time, as soil nutrient availability likely declined, were consistent with predictions of biological market models. Absolute transfer of P was an important predictor of both plant and fungal biomass, consistent with the excess resource exchange hypothesis, and N transfer to plants was positively associated with fungal biomass.

4. Altogether, light effects on resource fluxes indicated mixed support for various theoretical frameworks, while results on biomass accrual better supported the excess resource exchange hypothesis, although among-species variability is in need of further characterization.