Are plants and fungi trading carbon for nutrients? Not likely, say researchers

Every year, plants move 3.58 gigatons of carbon to mycorrhizal fungi, their underground partners—enough, in fact, that if it were ice, it would cover 112 million NHL hockey rinks. However, a dominant scientific theory explaining that huge transfer as an economic market of sorts is likely incorrect, according to a new paper by a group of experts including a University of Alberta researcher.