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\r\nTo understand how fungi form connections between different trees and why they have a biological interest in doing so, the relationship between fungi and a single tree must first be understood.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u201cTrees are naturally in symbiosis<\/a> with a group of fungi known as mycorrhiza<\/a>,\u201d explains Dr. Stav Livne-Luzon, researcher from Dr. Tamir Klein’s tree laboratory at the Weizmann Institute.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u201cThe fungus needs the roots of the trees to live, because the tree is its main supplier of carbon, and carbon is the tradable currency in a forest. The trees fix it from the atmosphere as part of the photosynthesis process, then they pass it to living organisms through the roots. In return, the fungus provides the tree with essential nutrients and minerals such as nitrogen and phosphorus, which the tree does not know how to produce on its own,\u201d she explains.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n In fact, according to a previous study<\/a> Dr. Livne-Luzon conducted, Jerusalem pine trees in particular are unable to grow taller than a few inches without the presence and cooperation of the mycorrhiza.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n You Get Some Carbon, and You Get Some Carbon!<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Soon to be published in The ISME Journal<\/a> and led by Dr. Livne-Luzon and Rotem Cahanovitc, the first phase of the study examined the role of fungi in sharing carbon between trees. Although earlier studies<\/a> have found that carbon can be absorbed from the atmosphere by one tree and move to a nearby tree through the ground, the exact way it happens had not been demonstrated.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n With the support of the EU Research Council and the Jewish National Fund (JNF), who donated Jerusalem pine (Pinus halepensis<\/em>) and common oak (Quercus robur<\/em>) seedlings for the study (the two most common types of trees in Israel\u2019s forests), the researchers built multiple experiments using three tree seedlings\u2014one central tree with two adjacent trees planted on either side.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Between the first tree and one of the adjacent ones, the researchers placed a net that restricted contact between the roots, but allowed a mushroom net to connect them. The other adjacent tree, however, was completely separated from the other two by an underground partition.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The researchers then built a transparent box around the central tree, into which they pumped carbon dioxide gas, but they used carbon-13 (\u00b9\u00b3C) for the experiment even though carbon-12 (\u00b9\u00b2C) is more naturally abundant. Both have very similar properties, but they used \u00b9\u00b3C because it is more easily detectable.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u201cWe found the presence of the \u00b9\u00b3C in the neighboring tree that was attached via the mycorrhiza,\u201d says Dr. Livne-Luzon. The amount of carbon that the oaks transferred to each other was similar to that which the pines transferred to each other, and the carbon transferred from pine to oak and vice versa yielded similar results as well.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u201cHowever, our main discovery is that we have identified which species of mycorrhizae transfer carbon between trees and increase connectivity in the soil and which species do not.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u201cRobin Hood\u201d of the Forest<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Using the same three-tree configuration, the researchers continued the next stage of experimentation but this time placed a covering over the adjacent trees to restrict their accessibility to light while leaving the central tree undisturbed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u201cWe could see that the carbon passed from the healthy central tree, which was exposed to light and thus capable of performing photosynthesis, to the connected lateral tree, which was starving and unable to fix carbon for itself,\u201d Dr. Livne-Luzon explains.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n According to the researchers, this sacrifice or transference of resources is not due to the stronger tree\u2019s generosity, but rather the result of the fungi that connects the trees.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u201cTrees have no reason to cooperate because it does not benefit them,\u201d says Dr. Livne-Luzon. \u201cThe fungi, however, act as the Robin Hood of the forest. They take any resources that a healthy tree is able to spare and pass it on to a nearby suffering tree. In doing so, the fungi invest in the forest\u2019s future to account for any unpredictable disturbances that may cause a tree to fall or die\u2014lightning strikes, for example.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u200b\u200bResearchers have also hypothesized that the transfer of carbon may be a byproduct of the amino acids transfer (which also contain carbon) from the fungus to the trees.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Regardless, the study indicates that fungal-mediated intertree collaboration is beneficial for all trees even when solar distress is not present. In the last phase of the experiment, in which about 80 additional triplets of trees were examined, the researchers concluded that trees connected to each other by a network of mycorrhizae fungi thrive far better than trees without them.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Despite this discovery, it will not be necessary for JNF foresters to manually plant spores of the appropriate fungi amongst the roots of trees.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u201cThese mushrooms are common on their own and know how to take care of themselves,\u201d says Dr. Livne-Luzon, who notes that natural forest soil was used in the experiment.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n “What can be taken from the study is the understanding that underground connectivity is a delicate social game, one that if we disrupt even slightly could jeopardize the plants\u2019 survivability.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u201cIt is important to understand which fungi increase connectivity in the forest and to investigate how rising global temperatures and direct human actions such as fires, thinning, or the planting of other species affect them,\u201d she concludes.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_20210314_102624-1024x768.jpg\")
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