Responses of Mycorrhizal Symbioses to Deliberate Leaks from AN Experimental CO2 Sequestration Field: the Zert Site
Abstract
Carbon sequestration is a means of reducing the concentration of atmospheric CO2 . It is important to monitor carbon sequestration fields for surface detection of possible leaks of CO2 . At The Zero Emissions Research Technology (ZERT) site, CO2 is injected at 0.15 tonnes/day increased to 0.3 tonnes/day into the soil through a shallow horizontal injection well with deliberate zones of leaking CO2 , which wells up through the soil and reaches concentrations of 16% w/v. The ZERT site is an experimental facility designed for developing means of surface detection of leaking CO2 and for determining the responses of plants to very high soil CO2 . Within 1 - 2 weeks of CO2 injections, dandelions and grasses begin to form circular zones of leaf dieback called hot spots. While the hotspots are visually apparent, the responses of the underground mycorrhizal symbioses to very high soil CO2 at the ZERT site are as yet undetermined. To examine the effects of leaking CO2 on mycorrhizae, we collected soil and root samples between and at the hotspots before CO2 was injected, then inoculated the rhizosphere with mycorrhizal inoculum containing spores of Glomus and Gigaspora sp., and resampled the soil and roots after three weeks of CO2 injection. We then evaluated the samples for percent mycorrhizal colonization via the line-intercept method in cleared roots in which fungal structures were stained with India-ink. Plants with mycorrhizal fungi benefit by improved P uptake, so we hypothesize that where plants have increased anthocyanin production, a symptom of P deficiency, mycorrhizal colonization would be reduced. In previous summers of the ZERT experiments, leaves have turned red/purple with CO2 exposure, and as of August, 2012, current year leaves appear to have increased anthocyanin above hotspots. Plant roots exude organic carbon into the soil, where it is used by mycorrhizal fungi. Mycorrhizal symbioses are key in the carbon dynamics of soil and in linking the above and below ground processes of plants.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AGUFM.H44B..01A
- Keywords:
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- 0428 BIOGEOSCIENCES / Carbon cycling;
- 0463 BIOGEOSCIENCES / Microbe/mineral interactions;
- 0476 BIOGEOSCIENCES / Plant ecology;
- 1875 HYDROLOGY / Vadose zone