Complementary effects of beneficial and non-beneficial mycorrhizal fungi on root phosphatase activity: A mycorrhizal “White Album” effect

Mycorrhizal fungi are diverse, with strains differing in the magnitude and types of benefits provided to their hosts. In mixture, mycorrhizal strains that have complementary functions could provide their hosts with greater benefits than any constituent strain in isolation. Conversely, mycorrhizal strains could also interfere with one another, competing for host resources, providing less benefits than the most beneficial strain. The actual, realized effects are likely a composite of these complementary and competitive effects. Spatial structure in the root system may allow plants to benefit from complementary benefits while reducing competition among mycorrhizal strains. I tested the role of spatial structure using a species of plant from the family Podocarpaceae, which host arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi inside both finely separated nodules and longer, contiguous sections of fine root. In root nodules, co-inoculation with both growth-promoting and non-growth-promoting arbuscular mycorrhiz..., Growth experiment
Seeds of Podocarpus gracilior (syn. Afrocarpus gracilior; Afrocarpus falcatus gracilior), an east-African podocarp commonly grown as a hedge in tropical and Mediterranean climates, were purchased from a commercial nursery (The Banana Tree, Oregon House, California, USA, banana-tree.com). Seeds were germinated in Metromix soil (Hummert International, Earth City, Missouri, USA) that had been autoclaved for 8 hours at 121 ºC (in two four treatments on consecutive days).
After 3 months, seedlings were transferred to pots containing a 50:50 (volume:volume) sand:soil mixture. Soil was collected from the Kankakee Sands Nature Preserve (Morocoo, Indiana, USA) and mixed at a 1:1 ratio with Indiana river sand. The soil mixture was autoclaved with the same time/temperature regime as the Metromix used as germination media. The background soil mix had a pH of 8.2, with 0.1% organic matter, 70 nitrate, 19 P, 33 K, and 102 Mg (all elemental quantities in ppm, using Mehlich-3 extracti..., , # Complementary effects of beneficial and non-beneficial mycorrhizal fungi on root phosphatase activity: a mycorrhizal “White Album” Effect

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.jm63xsjm6](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.jm63xsjm6)

## Description of the data and file structure

This is a ReadMe file for data deposited for Steidinger 2024 (Complementary effects of beneficial and non-beneficial mycorrhizal fungi on root phosphatase activity: a mycorrhizal \"White Album\" Effect).

### Files and variables

#### File: Steidinger\_2024\_FE2024\_00721.zip

**Description:** A zip file containing .Rmd and .csv files needed for recreating analysis. 

The archive contains 6 files (including this ReadMe).

**Steidinger2024_FE.Rmd**

R code required to replicate all analysis presented in the manuscript (and supplement). The code is annotated for clarity throughout. It requires both R and RStudio. Additionally, there are package dependencies listed inside, which may have to be installed. The code works by ac...