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SUMMARY:The roots of change: global change and mycorrhizal symbiosis throu
 gh the Phanerozoic - Katie Field\, University of Leeds
DTSTART:20200116T130000Z
DTEND:20200116T140000Z
UID:TALK131551@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:85030
DESCRIPTION:Fungi and plants have engaged in intimate symbioses that are n
 ow globally widespread and have driven terrestrial biogeochemical processe
 s since plant terrestrialisation >500 Mya. These associations\, known as m
 ycorrhizas\, are usually considered to be nutritional mutualisms\, whereby
  the plant benefits from greater access to soil nutrients in return for tr
 ansfer of photosynthetic carbon to their mycorrhizal fungal partners. Enha
 nced access to soil nutrient pools is likely to have been critical for the
  success of the earliest plants on land and today forms the basis for the 
 exploitation of soil fungi in sustainable approaches to agriculture.\n\nFo
 ssil evidence from the Rhynie Chert indicates that the earliest land plant
 s\, which evolved in a high CO2 atmosphere during the Paleozoic Era\, host
 ed diverse fungal symbionts. It is generally thought that the rise of earl
 y non-vascular plants and the later evolution of plant roots and vasculatu
 re drove the long-term shift towards a high-oxygen\, low-CO2 atmosphere an
 d climate that eventually permitted the evolution of mammals and\, ultimat
 ely\, humans. Such shifts in atmospheric CO2 concentration\, together with
  biotic factors such as plant and fungal identity\, have been shown to imp
 act exchanges of carbon for nutrients between plants and their mycorrhizal
  fungi. Indeed\, the effects of atmospheric CO2 concentrations and cultiva
 r on crop-fungal carbon-for-nutrient exchanges remain critical knowledge g
 aps in the exploitation of mycorrhizas for future sustainable agriculture 
 in a changing climate. We are investigating the impact of climate change-r
 elevant shifts in atmospheric CO2 concentrations in both wild and domestic
 ated plant mycorrhizas. Our research suggests that mycorrhizas can contrib
 ute to sustainable crop production as part of a wider sustainable agricult
 ure strategy and that there is substantial potential to improve future cro
 p mycorrhizal receptivity\, function and CO2 responsiveness.\n
LOCATION:Department of Plant Sciences\, Large Lecture Theatre
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