.2. Stoichiometric responses
Plant nutrients are not independent of one another. Particularly
in the AM symbiosis, plant productivity (and fungal productivity)
is tied to the availability of the most limiting resource (Read, 1991;
Johnson, 2010). Thus the ability of the AM fungus to create absorptive
structures for nutrient uptake is tied to host carbon availability,
which itself is often linked to limiting soil nutrients. In a study
focusing on soil nutrient availability, Johnson et al. (2010) found
that indigenous AM fungal communities were adapted to local conditions
in that they maximized the uptake of the most limiting
nutrient.