C allocation to the fungus is not a cost to the plant in ectomycorrhizae (a meta-analysis)

Mycorrhizal benefit to plants is most frequently evaluated through growth differences between mycorrhizal (M) and non‐mycorrhizal (NM) plants. These growth differences are often considered to be due to differences in belowground carbon (C) expenditure, or in cost efficiency, i.e. amount of nutrients acquired per C expended. In order to understand whether growth differences between M and NM plants are dictated by differences in C availability, we searched published reports on for relations between plant growth and belowground C allocation, C use efficiency, or nutrient uptake, in ectomycorrhizal (ECM) versus non‐mycorrhizal plants. This search was done for carrying out a meta-analysis on the published literature. The list of studies used in this meta-analysis, along with relevant information from each study, can be found in this dataset.

菌根对植物的益处，最常通过菌根（mycorrhizal, M）植株与非菌根（non-mycorrhizal, NM）植株之间的生长差异进行评估。此类生长差异通常被归因于地下碳（C）消耗的差异，或是成本效率的差异——即单位碳消耗所获取的养分总量。为明确菌根与非菌根植株间的生长差异是否由碳有效性差异所决定，我们检索了已发表的相关报道，以分析外生菌根（ectomycorrhizal, ECM）植株与非菌根植株的植物生长、地下碳分配、碳利用效率或养分吸收之间的关联，本次检索旨在开展针对已发表文献的元分析。本数据集收录了本次元分析所使用的研究列表，以及每项研究的相关信息。