Plants and fungi actually exchange resources preferentially. If a fungus can provide a plant with more phosphorous than another fungus, the plant will allocate more carbon to the productive fungus in return. Thus both plants and fungi can profit from each others inherent productive strengths.
These trade forces actually mimic those of people trading scarce resources. That is, resources are allocated through the pricing mechanisms of supply and demand. When phosphorous is plentiful, the plant has to pay less carbon for it. Whereas when phosphorous is scarce, the fungi has more power and receives a better price.
What’s amazing is that the fungi have actually figured this out. They actively mine phosphorous in places throughout their wide network where the mineral is common, transfer it to places where it is scarce, and then sell it at a profit to the trees. They buy low, sell high.
Quote
“In one set of experiments, she found that plant roots were able to supply carbon preferentially to fungal strains that provided them with more phosphorus. In return, fungi that received more carbon from the plant supplied it with yet more phosphorus. Exchange was in some sense negotiated between the two depending on the availability of resources. She was interested in how this would affect the fungus’s trading decisions in different parts of the same network. Some recognizable patterns emerged. In parts of a mycelial network where phosphorus was scarce, the plant paid a higher “price,” supplying more carbon to the fungus for every unit of phosphorus it received. Where phosphorus was more readily available, the fungus received a less favorable “exchange rate.” The “price” of phosphorus seemed to be governed by the familiar dynamics of supply and demand. Kiers identified a strategy of “buy low, sell high.” The fungus actively transported phosphorus—using its dynamic microtubule “motors”—from areas of abundance, where it fetched a low price when exchanged with a plant root, to areas of scarcity, where it was in higher demand and fetched a higher price. By doing so, the fungus was able to transfer a greater proportion of its phosphorus to the plant at the more favorable exchange rate, thus receiving larger quantities of carbon in return.”
Connections
Market Forces Work Because They Remove The Need For Trust
Reference
Book: Entangled Life Author: Merlin Sheldrake Location: 2277, 2294, 2298