Institute of Global Change and Evolutionary Ecology, School of Advanced Study, Taizhou University, Taizhou, China.
Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation, Taizhou University, Taizhou, China.
Ecology. 2024 Oct;105(10):e4418. doi: 10.1002/ecy.4418. Epub 2024 Sep 9.
Common mycorrhizal networks (CMNs) can link multiple plants and distribute nutrients among them. However, how parasitic plants regulate the carbon and nutrient exchange between CMNs and the linked plants is unknown. Thus, we conducted a container experiment with two Trifolium pratense grown in two plastic cores and connected only by CMNs using a 25-μm nylon fabric in each container. Host T. pratense was parasitized or not parasitized by Cuscuta gronovii. CMNs were left intact or broken by rotating the cores with the host or neighboring T. pratense. The dual N and C labeling method was used to evaluate the N distributed by CMNs to the host and neighboring T. pratense and the recently fixed C from the host and neighboring T. pratense to CMNs. The results showed that CMNs distributed more N to unparasitized neighboring T. pratense than the parasitized host T. pratense. Moreover, the unparasitized neighboring T. pratense provides more recently fixed C to CMNs than the parasitized host T. pratense. These results revealed that the parasite regulated C and nutrient exchange between CMNs and the linked plants following the reciprocal rewards rule. Moreover, this study highlights the importance of parasitic plants in the regulation of mutualistic interactions in ecological webs.
常见菌根网络（CMNs）可以连接多个植物并在它们之间分配养分。然而，寄生植物如何调节 CMNs 与连接的植物之间的碳和养分交换尚不清楚。因此，我们进行了一个容器实验，将两株三叶草（Trifolium pratense）种植在两个塑料核心中，每个容器中仅通过 25μm 的尼龙织物连接 CMNs。宿主三叶草被菟丝子（Cuscuta gronovii）寄生或不被寄生。CMNs 保持完整或通过旋转带有宿主或邻近三叶草的核心而被破坏。我们使用双重 N 和 C 标记方法来评估 CMNs 分配给宿主和邻近三叶草的 N 和宿主和邻近三叶草最近固定的 C 到 CMNs 的情况。结果表明，CMNs 向未被寄生的邻近三叶草分配了更多的 N，而不是寄生的宿主三叶草。此外，未被寄生的邻近三叶草向 CMNs 提供的最近固定的 C 比寄生的宿主三叶草多。这些结果表明，寄生虫根据互惠奖励规则调节 CMNs 与连接的植物之间的碳和养分交换。此外，本研究强调了寄生植物在生态网络中调节互利共生相互作用的重要性。
