![]() ![]() Over-zealous raking or digging can potentially damage an oak without ever touching the actual tree. Those of us who are lucky enough to live with oaks in our gardens can help protect them by making sure not to disturb the soil they depend on. The downside of depending on a fragile web of fungi is that any soil disturbance-discing, grading, even just driving through with a tractor or a truck-can disrupt that network, and provide an opportunity for non-native invasive plants to take over, introducing harmful bacteria into the soil and disrupting the network of fungi that regulate soil moisture. Subsequent research continues to reveal the complex interconnectedness of plants and fungi. The paper, “Belowground carbon trade among tall trees in a temperate forest,” authored by researchers Tamir Klein, Rolf TW Siegwolf, Christian Körner and published in the journal Science, rocked the scientific community. This, combined with that deep taproot anchor and broad network of smaller roots, enables coast live oaks to thrive on steep hillsides and to grow at seemingly impossible angles.Īstonishing research published in 2016 revealed that the “wood-wide web” of soil fungi can help regulate soil moisture, carbon distribution and more over a wide area, benefitting the entire plant community, and also theorized that this web forms a way for trees to communicate on an elemental level and share resources. Studies show that the combination of oak roots and mycorrhizal fungi help stabilize soil more than roots could do on their own. The beneficial fungi also produce chemicals that boost the host tree’s immune system and help protect it from diseases and from detrimental fungi like the kind that causes sudden oak death. The network of mycorrhiza extends the tree’s root range and enables it to access moisture and nutrients that would not be available to roots alone. This fungi is often visible in the form of pale root-like threads and nodules. ![]() The fungi feeds on the carbohydrates in the fallen leaves and helps transform them back into nutrients the tree can use. This is the zone that provides most of the resources for the tree. Oak can often re-sprout from their roots after a fire, using resources stored underground and augmented by the network of beneficial fungi in the soil.Įctomycorrhiza is found in the oak leaf litter in the top four or five inches of soil under the tree. This fungi is microscopic but critically important. Vesicular-Arbuscular Mycorrhiza occurs from around four inches below the soil surface all the way down to bedrock or hard pan, or as much as 20 feet in areas with deep soil. Forestry Service study found that there are “probably more than a hundred mycorrhizal fungi associated with coast live oaks alone in southern California,” but there are two major groups. This is an obligate symbiotic relationship: the fungi needs the nutrients created by the tree’s leaf litter the tree depends on the fungi to break down those nutrients and deliver them back to the tree’s roots, along with critically important moisture.Ī 2005 U.S. However, oaks depend on a much wider and shallower network of branch roots and surface roots to collect most of the water and essential nutrients the tree needs to live, and oaks have a partner that makes that possible: mycorrhizal fungi. It reveals the oak’s deep taproot and the network of wide, shallow roots that anchor the tree to the steep hillside. This fantastic tapestry of oak roots is visible on the side of Old Topanga Canyon. ![]()
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