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Klironomos' research focuses on the ecological roles of soil microbes, particularly mycorrhizal fungi, in plant health and ecosystem sustainability. His work explores how these interactions can be harnessed to improve ecosystem resilience, enhance food security, and promote biodiversity in the face of environmental changes. [15]
Dark septate endophytes (DSE) are also common in many aridland plants and are hypothesized to perform similar roles as mycorrhizal fungi. [8] Fungi are an integral part of the biological soil crust community, and similar fungal taxa have been found in biological soil crusts and plant root zones, which suggests hyphal connections between these ...
Further reading on the role of arbuscular and ectomycorrhizal fungi in soil carbon storage and decomposition can be found in Zhu and Miller 2003, [37] Ekblad et al. 2013, [38] respectively, and the 2019 paper "Climatic controls of decomposition drive the global biogeography of forest-tree symbioses".
Although often inconspicuous, fungi occur in every environment on Earth and play very important roles in most ecosystems. Along with bacteria, fungi are the major decomposers in most terrestrial (and some aquatic) ecosystems, and therefore play a critical role in biogeochemical cycles [174] and in many food webs.
For example, while some studies have found that reductions in the abundance and presence of soil organisms results in the decline of multiple ecosystem functions, [28] others concluded that above-ground plant diversity alone is a better predictor of ecosystem multi-functionality than soil biodiversity. [29]
Fungi provide numerous ecosystem services that are essential in maintaining ecological environments and reducing the effects of climate change. [3] Fungi help facilitate the nutrient cycle and carbon cycle, act as a food source for humans and animals, regulate animals populations, and contribute to the degradation of various pollutants. [3]
Mycorrhizal fungi can extend a great distance into bulk soil, [5] thereby increasing the root system's reach and surface area, enabling mycorrhizal fungi to acquire a large percentage of its host plant's nutrients. In some ecosystems, up to 80% of plant nitrogen and 90% of plant phosphorus is acquired by mycorrhizal fungi. [14]
One of the primary roles of fungi in an ecosystem is to decompose organic compounds. Petroleum products and some pesticides (typical soil contaminants) are organic molecules (i.e., they are built on a carbon structure), and thereby show a potential carbon source for fungi. Hence, fungi have the potential to eradicate such pollutants from their ...