Host Plant Physiology and Mycorrhizal Functioning Shift across a Glacial through Future [CO2] Gradient.

Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration ([CO]) may modulate the functioning of mycorrhizal associations by altering the relative degree of nutrient and carbohydrate limitations in plants. To test this, we grew Taraxacum ceratophorum and Taraxacum officinale (native and exotic dandelions) with and without mycorrhizal fungi across a broad [CO] gradient (180-1,000 µL L). Differential plant growth rates and vegetative plasticity were hypothesized to drive species-specific responses to [CO] and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.