Mycorrhizae
Mycorrhizal fungi live in and around the roots of most plants. In exchange for sugars and simple carbohydrates, the mycorrhizal fungi absorb and pass on minerals and moisture required for the plant's growth. Over tens of millions of years plants have developed this symbiotic relationship with the fungus to help them survive conditions of drought, extreme temperatures and periods of low soil fertility. Mycorrhizal fungi colonize a plant's living root system, in effect extending it further into the soil, usually by up to 1000%. By taking in nutrients and water and passing it on the roots, these organisms are a vital link in a plant's nutrient cycle. In nature, mycorrhizal fungi are found on about 99% of plant species, but in urban environments, the poor, compacted soils often lack these essential fungi.
This mutualistic association of plant roots and fungi is beneficial to both organisms because, through their digestive enzymes, the fungi help make minerals available to the plant and help in water absorption (they are smaller diameter than any of the tree roots) in return for organic food from the plant. About 90% of all trees depend on micorrhizae and bare-root trees often don’t do as well because all of the smaller roots where the micorrhizal fungi would normally live are pruned off.
Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhiza
VAMs are fungi, which live in a harmonious relationship with plant roots. In these fungi provides the plant with extra nutrients from the soil, especially phosphorus and zinc, in replace for sugars provided by the plants............
