Diversified agroecosystems supporting greater genetic, structural, and functional diversity improve soil health and ecosystem function. However, there is limited understanding of how multiple forms of diversification, such as mixing cover crop species and adding arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), alter belowground carbon supply to soil. In a controlled environment experiment using rhizoboxes, I investigated the belowgound response of cover crops – red clover (Trifolium pratense) and barley (Hordeum vulgare) – grown in monoculture or mixture, with and without AMF inoculation. Root morphological and mycorrhizal traits that characterize the hypothesized root economics spectrum (RES) were integrated with novel sampling of dissoved organic carbon fluxes and easily extractable glomlin in rhizosphere soil. Results revealed species-specific shifts on the RES suggesting that diversification through species mixing and AMF additions can alter belowground carbon allocation pathways, with potential implacations for plant performance and soil carbon stabilization in agroecosystems.
Author Keywords: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, carbon sequestration, cover crops