Fungi, Fertilizer and 'Nature'
Posted on July 28, 2021
In just two years at the 海角淫母乱伦, Dr. Jeremiah Henning found a home for his biology research in the grassy sand dunes near the west end of Dauphin Island.
鈥淏efore I arrived, I knew I wanted to transition to dune environments,鈥� said Henning, a 37-year-old assistant professor and Wisconsin native. 鈥淒auphin Island is close by. The town has been receptive to me conducting research across the island. And it鈥檚 a great place to get students plugged into research with the Nutrient Network."
That network is a global research cooperative of scientists studying the long-term effects of fertilizer on grassland sites distributed across five continents. Studies have shown that adding nutrients to soil increases plant size, but also decreases biological diversity and reduces beneficial bacteria and fungi.
What鈥檚 true for grassland environments around the world is true for lawns along the Gulf Coast, Henning said. Because lawn grass roots only go down a few inches in the soil, most fertilizer applied to lawns quickly runs into the surrounding natural ecosystems, which reduces the diversity of plants in the area. Alternatives to fertilizer application in lawns include a less-is-more strategy and the use of more slow-release fertilizers.
This summer, Henning was one of 10 co-authors on a paper, 鈥淣itrogen and phosphorous fertilization consistently favor pathogenic over mutualistic fungi in grassland soils,鈥� published in Nature Communications, a prestigious scientific journal. The main findings of the paper include an increase in root pathogens and a loss of beneficial fungi after application of fertilizers in grasslands globally.
鈥淚 knew we had a compelling story and relatively straightforward results, however it is always hard to predict how peer review will go and ultimately what the editors will say,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was so nice to see the acceptance email. Such a relief.鈥�
The lead author of the Nature paper was Dr. Ylva Lekberg, a soil ecologist at the MPG Ranch, a research and conservation organization in Montana. She met Henning and Dr. Carlos Arnillas of the University of Toronto Scarborough at an annual Nutrient Network meeting. They talked about exploring plant-fungal relationships across the Nutrient Network dataset.
鈥淭here were times in this process when the three of us were ready to throw in the towel,鈥� Lekberg said. 鈥淭here are always ups and down in research. But Jeremiah is a good collaborator. He鈥檚 so enthusiastic and supportive. He鈥檚 always sending e-mails with three exclamation points.鈥�
The Nature paper was a stand-alone study that used data from previous research conducting in the Nutrient Network. It did not include results from the grassland dunes that Henning has plotted on Dauphin Island.
Those will be part of the second generation of Nutrient Network sites that will be measuring how nutrient addition and disturbance events 鈥� like hurricanes 鈥� alter plant communities and how ecosystems function. That could have important implications for Alabama dune communities recovering from hurricanes, protecting us from future hurricanes, and providing habitat for lots of plants and animals.
Professors of mycology have helped students and the general public better understand the remarkable range and ecological importance of fungi such as mushrooms. In 鈥淓ntangled Life,鈥� a 2020 book by Dr. Martin Sheldrake, the English biologist described mycelium as a living seam of connective tissue 鈥� a 鈥渨ood wide web鈥� 鈥� with sprawling networks above and below the ground.
鈥淔ungi are everywhere, but they are easy to miss,鈥� Sheldrake wrote. 鈥淭hey are inside you and around you. They sustain you and all that you depend on. As you read these words, fungi are changing the way that life happens, as they have done for more than a billion years. They are eating rock, making soil, digesting pollutants, nourishing and killing plants, surviving in space, inducing visions, producing food, making medicines, manipulating animal behavior and influencing the composition of the Earth鈥檚 atmosphere. Fungi provide a key to understanding the planet on which we live, and the ways that we think, feel and behave.鈥�