Can Soil Fungi
Fight Climate Change? Keys to mitigate global warming hide beneath our feet
Michael P. Amaranthus1 and James M. Trappe2 1PO Box 1181, Grants Pass, OR 97528,
drmikeamaranthus@gmail.com; 2
Abstract: Rapidly increasing CO2
levels in the atmosphere
are resulting in abrupt changes in climate that threaten food production and ecological systems. Soils are crucial to managing climate change. Tey contain two to three times more carbon than the atmosphere. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi form a symbiotic relationship with the majority of our important crop species. How to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere? A good opportunity is to “plant” carbon in soils and crops via arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on millions of acres of farmland. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and associated soil microorganisms produce the sticky protein glomalin that results in vast carbon sequestration and carbon storage in soil. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi also have the ability to directly absorb organic nutrients from soil and increase net primary productivity in stressful environments that significantly increases carbon accumulation during crop production. Managing soil to promote mycorrhizal fungi increases food production with less fossil fuel inputs than usual agricultural practice. Fostering arbuscular mycorrhizal activity and carbon deposition in soil are practical and economical now.
Keywords: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, carbon dioxide, carbon sequestration, carbon storage, food production, glomalin, organic nutrient uptake, organic farming.
18 FUNGI Volume 14:4 Fall 2021 USFS Pacific Northwest Research Station, Forestry Sciences Laboratory, Corvallis, OR 97331,
trappej@gmail.com
Introduction Mushroom hunters are accustomed
to keeping their heads down, looking for choice, edible fungal prizes. Certainly, harvesting wild edible mushrooms can be a joyous and life-long endeavor. But, sadly, only about 10% of earth’s several million fungal species produce mushrooms. Te majority not producing mushrooms, however, provide vital ecosystem functions. No fungal group is more important than the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Tese tiny species are critical to life on Earth. Te term “arbuscular” is from Latin for “little bushes” referring to the microscopic fungal structures formed in host root cells in the shape of tiny bushes (Fig. 1). Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
(formerly known as endomycorrhizal
fungi) form a symbiotic relationship with most of our important crops as well as wild plants. Most grasses, wildflowers, agricultural plants, and woody plants form arbuscular mycorrhizae (Taber, 1990; Trappe, 1987; Wang and Qiu, 2006). Tese host plants produce photosynthates to fuel the activities of arbuscular fungi colonizing their roots. Te fungi, in return, pull nutrients and water from the soil for use by the host plants. Miles of arbuscular fungal filaments can be present in a tablespoon of healthy soil (Fig. 2). Instead of producing specialized fruiting body structures such as mushrooms, truffles or puffballs with masses of spores, the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi instead produce individual or clustered spores inside and outside the roots (Fig. 3). Arbuscular fungi dramatically increase
Figure 1.
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