Study
Mycorrhizal ecology and evolution: the past, the present, and the future
van der Heijden, M. G. A.; Martin, F. M.; Selosse, M.-A.; Sanders, I. R.
New Phytologist, 2015
A review of mycorrhizal biology covering the main symbiosis types, their evolutionary history, the nutrient fluxes involved and their ecosystem consequences.
- Studied in
- Glomeromycota, Basidiomycota, Ascomycota, Tracheophyta
The great majority of land plant species form mycorrhizas, in several structurally distinct types with independent evolutionary origins. Fungal partners can supply a large share of a plant’s phosphorus and nitrogen, and plants commit a substantial fraction of photosynthetic carbon to them in return.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Mycorrhizal symbioses are ancient, near-universal among land plants, and central to terrestrial nutrient cycling.
How NatureHQ reads it
The record that establishes scale and normality. Mycorrhizas are not an exotic phenomenon at the edge of botany; they are the ordinary condition of a root, and have been since plants moved onto land. Setting that out first is what makes the disputes downstream legible — the argument has never been about whether roots and fungi are joined, only about what follows from it.
- A review; the numbers it reports come from studies with their own limits.
- Better evidence exists for arbuscular and ectomycorrhizal types than for the others.
- Ecosystem-level claims rest largely on temperate and experimental systems.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Published by: Wiley journalsPublished in a Wiley journal.
This reference was resolved automatically against Crossref and OpenAlex on 2026-08-30.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-08-30.