Induced Resource Partitioning: Effects of Mycorrhizae and Herbivory

Plants simultaneously interact with beneficial and antagonistic organisms such as mycorrhizal fungi and herbivores, respectively. In a recent article published in AoB PLANTS, Orians et al. studied the net effects of such interaction on plant internal resources and growth and found that while both organisms had an impact on the plant individually, the magnitude or direction of the individual effects generally did not differ when both organisms were present simultaneously. These results suggest that despite the plant carbon diverted to feed the beneficial fungi, tomato plants are able to modulate internal resource allocation that may increase the tolerance of plants to herbivore attack.