Fluxes of carbon and phosphorus between symbionts in willow ectomycorrhizas and their changes with time

One way of viewing a mycorrhizal symbiosis is as a balance between the nutritional ‘benefits’ and carbon ‘costs’ to the phytobiont. Phosphorus acquisition efficiency (the amount of phosphorus taken up per unit of carbon allocated belowground) can be used as an indicator of this balance. In this study, phosphorus uptake and belowground carbon allocation were measured using ectomycorrhizal (M) (Thelephora terrestris (Ehrh.) Fr.) and non‐mycorrhizal (NM) Salix viminalis L. cv. Bowles Hybrid. Following 50, 60, 85 or 98 d of growth in a gamma‐irradiated soil/sand mixture containing 4 mg bicarbunate‐extractable P kg⁻¹, seven randomly‐selected cuttings of each treatment were harvested and their P contents determined. Nine d prior to each harvest, the three median plants from the group of seven were pulse labelled with ¹⁴C to determine the relative allocation of C aboveground and belowground. Mycorrhizal colonization of willow caused a two‐fold increase in growth owing to substantially higher P uptake. Phosphorus inflow rates were almost three times as high for M root systems as for NM root systems over the interval up to the first harvest (3.2 × 10 ⁻¹² and 1.2 × 10¹² mol m⁻¹ s–1, respectively). Over the interval from 50 to 98 d, inflows into M plants were 50% higher than into NM plants (1.4 × 10¹² and 0.9 × 10⁻¹³ mol m⁻¹ s⁻¹ respectively). The M plants allocated about 25 times as much carbon belowground as the NM plants for both periods. The P acquisition efficiency was higher in M than in NM plants during the first interval (16% and 40% higher using two different calculation methods), whereas during the second interval it was higher in NM than in M plants (33% and 44% higher using the two different methods). Thus, ectomycorrhizas can be very effective in supplying P to their hosts even at an early stage of infection. Furthermore, it is suggested that a temporal separation exists in the maximal fluxes of P and C between the fungus and the host of the mycorrhizal association. The results are discussed in the context of the nutrient requirements and carbon economies of field‐grown woody plants.