Project R-16109

The Role of Mycorrhiza in Modulating Water and Nitrogen Dynamics in the Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Continuum. (Research)

unique soil organisms that live in symbiosis with 80% of the Earth's plants and, in exchange for carbon, provide plants with nutrients and water. There is growing evidence that the activities of two globally dominant, yet radically different, types of these fungi— arbuscular mycorrhizal and ectomycorrhizal fungi (AMF and EcMF)— are crucial drivers of ecosystem water cycling and of links between water and nitrogen cycles. Yet, we hardly understand the mechanisms enabling the differences in plant and soil water budgets between ecosystems dominated by AMF and EcMF. I will investigate how AMF and EcMF affect plant and soil water dynamics, and its relations to the soil nitrogen cycle under extreme water availability conditions (drought and rewetting), using the state-of-the-art Ecotron and soil water profiling facilities, combined with field experimentation. I will run these three experiments to address the role of AMF and EcMF in the ecosystem water and nitrogen cycles at three levels of complexity. This is the first study to comprehensively analyze the mycorrhizal impacts on the entire plant-soil-atmosphere water cycle, while distinguishing the specific roles of AMF and EcMF. The findings will advance our understanding about soil-related ecosystem services and promote sustainable land management in a changing climate.

01 November 2025 - 31 October 2026