Mycorrhizal fungi and global land surface models?

In the current generation of Land Surface Models (LSMs), the representation of coupled carbon (C) and nutrient cycles does not account for allocation of C by plants to mycorrhizal fungi in exchange for limiting nutrients. Given that the amount of C transferred to mycorrhizae can exceed 20% of net primary production (NPP), mycorrhizae can supply over half of the nitrogen (N) needed to support NPP, and that large majority of plants form associations with mycorrhizae; integrating these mechanisms into LSMs may significantly alter our understanding of the role of the terrestrial biosphere in mitigating climate change. Here, we present results from the integration of a mycorrhizal framework into a cutting-edge global plant nitrogen model -- Fixation & Uptake of Nitrogen (FUN; Fisher et al., 2010) -- that can be coupled into existing LSMs. In this mycorrhizal framework, the C cost of N acquisition varies as a function of mycorrhizal type with: (1) plants that support arbuscular mycorrhizae (AM) benefiting when N is plentiful and (2) plants that support ectomycorrhizae (ECM) benefiting when N is limiting. At the plot scale (15 x 15m), the My-FUN model improved predictions of retranslocation, N uptake, and the amount of C transferred into the soil relative to the base model across 45 plots that vary in mycorrhizal type in Indiana, USA. At the ecosystem scale, when we coupled this new framework into the Community Land Model (CLM-CN), the model estimated lower C uptake than the base model and more accurately predicted C uptake at the Morgan Monroe State Forest AmeriFlux site. These results suggest that the inclusion of a mycorrhizal framework into LSMs will enhance our ability to predict feedbacks between global change and the terrestrial biosphere.