70-year field study finds fertilizer imbalance can halve mycorrhizal fungi

Almost all plants live in close symbiosis with so-called mycorrhizal fungi—an important symbiosis for absorbing essential nutrients. In their new study, a team led by ecologist Christina Kaiser from the Center for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science (CeMESS) at the University of Vienna has now discovered that this mycorrhizal symbiosis is very sensitive to imbalances of certain nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) in the soil.