10 Comments

I believe it would be beneficial to consider mycelial turnover within the mycelial network. Some studies suggest that the turnover of mycelium in the soil is quite rapid (For example, Staddon et al., 2003), and a mycelial network with stable functions should ideally be relatively stable.

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What about taking a more eco-evolutionary stance and ask how competitive/selfish the fungal mycelia are in their interaction - from a plant’s and fungus’ perspective?

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Absolutely! great point.

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Another idea related to global warming would be to study the functioning of subsurface networks under controlled conditions of soil temperatures and aridity. Are different networks effected differently? Do networks enhance groundwater uptake?

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Right, they would almost certainly be differentially affected by any environmental factor.

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An exciting proposal. Perhaps such myco-ecological research would improve existing DNA taxonomies to better interpret ever cheapening e-DNA test results? The improved e-DNA results will spur even more soil ecology research.

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Thanks. High-throughput sequencing could certainly be useful as a tool to establish what fungi participate in concurrent networks.

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