Think Wall Street… but underground!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Scientists are discovering that microbes and plants may be running tiny nutrient markets beneath our feet. Listen closely.
Gijsbert Werner and team from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam discovered that microbes and plants actually TRADE nutrients. Sounds shady!
They examined fungi that connect to plant roots underground, forming mycellium networks that regulate nutrients like phosphorus.
Using radioactive tracers, they labeled nutrients to track how they moved between plants and fungi. Interestingly, fungi delivered more nutrients to plants that supplied more carbon in return.
Where microbes and plants trade nutrients, soil isn’t messy – it is a marketplace!
Ya holding? Meet me ‘round back.
Reference: Werner, G. D. A., Strassmann, J. E., Ivens, A. B. F., Engelmoer, D. J. P., Verbruggen, E., Queller, D. C., Noë, R., Johnson, N. C., Hammerstein, P., & Kiers, E. T. (2014). Evolution of microbial markets. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(4), 1237–1244. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1315980111