Q31.3-2CC. Describe the importance of mycor... [FREE SOLUTION]

Chapter 31: Q31.3-2CC. (page 658)

Describe the importance of mycorrhizae, both today and in the colonization of land. What evidence supports the antiquity of mycorrhizal associations?

Short Answer

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Mycorrhizae can absorb the soils鈥� nutrients more efficiently than the plants鈥� absorption of the nutrients from the ground. In simple words, mycorrhizae increase the uptake of both nutrients, along with water.

Due to the presence of mycorrhiza, plants do not get affected by the water stress, and it also increases the plants鈥� growth. Mycorrhiza is essential for the production of biomass and crops.

Step by step solution

Step 1: Mycorrhizae

Mycorrhizae have a role in plant nutrition, and it describes fungi鈥檚 role in the rhizosphere of the plants. Mycorrhiza is an example of mutual benefits that occur between host plants and fungi.

A mycorrhiza helps plants to reach the nutrients that are generally impossible for them to get.

Mycorrhizae location

Generally, in the vascular plant鈥檚 roots, mycorrhizae are present. Evidence (in the form of fossil) indicates that in earlier times, land plants without roots or in the absence of roots developed arbuscular mycorrhizal associations.

The mycorrhizal fungus is found in soil, and is associated with the plant鈥檚 roots. Apart from arbuscular mycorrhizae, other types of mycorrhizal associations are i) orchid, ii) ectomycorrhiza, and iii) ericoid.

Evidence of mycorrhizal associations

The existence of fossils shows arbuscular mycorrhizae in the land plants that had arrived earlier. The plant is known as Aglaophyton. Molecular results have indicated that genes are required during the formation of mycorrhizae, and these genes are present in liverworts.

Sometimes, other basal plant lineages have these genes too. Mycorrhizae are vital for the terrestrial plants鈥� evolutionary success to conquer the land.