Abstract ........................................................ 5
Contents ........................................................ 7
Chapter 1: General Introduction ................................ 11
1.1 Phosphorus scarcity as a global problem ................... 11
1.2 Mycorrhiza as a natural key factor to cope with nutrient
scarcity .................................................. 11
1.3 Type of interaction between plant and mycorrhiza and
implications on the C-P dynamics .......................... 13
1.4 AMF Modelling ............................................. 15
1.5 This PhD thesis ........................................... 16
1.6 References ................................................ 17
Chapter 2: Ecological system and modelling framework .......... 23
2.1 Introduction to mycorrhiza ................................ 23
2.2 Laboratory experiments .................................... 25
2.2.1 Laboratory experiments ............................. 25
2.2.2 Relevant outcome for modelling ..................... 29
2.3 Model description ......................................... 30
2.3.1 Purpose of the Model ............................... 31
2.3.2 Overview ........................................... 32
2.3.3 Growth of fungal mycelium via movement of fungal
tips and the creation of branched absorbing
structures (BAS) ................................... 33
2.3.4 Growth of fungal mycelium via branching ............ 36
2.3.5 Fungal uptake of phosphorus ........................ 37
2.3.6 Exchange of carbon and phosphorus between fungus
and plant .......................................... 37
2.3.7 Maintenance of fungal biomass ...................... 38
2.3.8 Internal Transport of the two nutrients P and С
(inside the fungus) ................................ 39
2.3.9 External Transport of P (outside the fungus) ....... 40
2.3.10 Sporulation ........................................ 40
2.3.11 Model parameterization ............................. 41
2.4 References ................................................ 44
Chapter 3: Identification of AMF functional types in
a plant-fungus interaction system .............................. 45
3.1 Introduction .............................................. 45
3.2 Methods ................................................... 46
3.3 Results ................................................... 48
3.4 Discussion ................................................ 54
3.5 References ................................................ 57
Chapter 4: Performance of AMF functional types in equalizing
phosphorus pulses for plants ................................... 59
4.1 Introduction .............................................. 59
4.2 Methods ................................................... 60
4.3 Results ................................................... 61
4.4 Discussion ................................................ 66
4.5 References ................................................ 70
Chapter 5: Relevance of the interaction for efficient P use
in heterogeneous environments .................................. 73
5.1 Introduction .............................................. 73
5.2 Methods ................................................... 75
5.3 Results ................................................... 77
5.3.1 Preliminary Test with the Reference Scenario ....... 77
5.3.2 Heterogeneous external P Distributions I and II .... 81
5.4 Discussion ................................................ 88
5.5 References ................................................ 91
Chapter 6: General discussion .................................. 93
6.1 Lessons learnt - Model structure .......................... 93
6.2 Lessons learnt - Identification of AMF functional types ... 94
6.3 Lessons learnt - Coupling nutrient cycles by AMF-related
species interactions ...................................... 95
6.4 Lessons learnt - P-use efficiency and buffer capacity
mediated by AMF-plant-interaction ......................... 96
6.5 References ................................................ 97
Glossary ....................................................... 99
Figures ....................................................... 100
Tables ........................................................ 105
Acknowledgements .............................................. 106
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