Carbon and nitrogen gain during the growth of orchid seedlings

Using a new highly sensitive approach, a team around Gerhard Gebauer, measured the isotope compositions of seedlings and adults of four orchid species to study their use of carbon and nitrogen supplied by mycorrhizal fungi. The study was published recently in New Phytologist. The researchers conclude that partial mycoheterotrophy - plants capable of photosynthesis, but tapping on fungi as a supplementary food supply - may be much more widely distributed among orchids than hitherto assumed.