DOI: 10.5061/dryad.g1jwstqzt
title: Percentage distribution of plant-fixed carbon in orchid shoots and roots, protocorms, and mycorrhizal fungal mycelium and amount (total and concentration) of carbon transferred to protocorms and mycorrhizal fungal mycelium by green orchids in each experimental microcosm

description:  The minute 'dust seeds' of some terrestrial orchids
 preferentially germinate and develop as mycoheterotrophic protocorms near
 conspecific adult plants. In this paper we tested the hypothesis that
 mycorrhizal mycelial connections provide a direct pathway for transfer of
 recent photosynthate from conspecific green orchids to achlorophyllous
 protocorms. Mycelial networks of Ceratobasidium cornigerum
 connecting green Dactylorhiza fuchsii plants with developing
 achlorophyllous protocorms of the same species were established on oatmeal
 or water agar before the shoots of green plants were exposed to 14CO2.
 After incubation for 48 hours, the pattern of distribution of fixed carbon
 was visualised in intact entire autotrophic/protocorm systems using
 digital autoradiography and quantified in protocorms by liquid
 scintillation counting. The data presented here represent the
 percentage distribution of the 14C fixed by the orchids in our
 experimental systems to plant shoots, roots, protocorms and the
 mycorrhizal mycelium. We also show the total amount of 14C present in
 plant shoots and protocorms when grown in each of the three media tested
 (100% water agar, 100% oatmeal agar, and 50:50 water: oatmeal agar). We
 also show the amount of carbon (total and concentration) transferred from
 green orchids to protocorms and mycorrhizal mycelium in each microcosm
 across the three media treatments.
description: # Percentage distribution of plant-fixed carbon in orchid shoots and
 roots, protocorms, and mycorrhizal fungal mycelium
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.g1jwstqzt](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.g1jwstqzt) Data supporting figures 3 and 4 of the paper "**Photosynthate transfer from an autotrophic orchid to conspecific heterotrophic protocorms through a common mycorrhizal network"**. File contains raw data for figure 3(a-c); the percentage distribution of the carbon fixed by the orchids in our experimental systems to the plant shoots, roots, protocorms and fungal mycelium in each of the three media types tested (water agar A-D; 50:50 agar F-K; Oatmeal agar M-P). Also included are data supporting figure 3(d); total 14C (ng) in shoots and protocorms in each system. Data for Figure 4 depict the total (ng) and concentration (ng/g) of carbon transferred from the green orchid to protocorms and mycorrhizal fungus in each of the experimental systems across the three media types tested.  ## Description of the data and file structure Data for 3(a-c) are arranged in tables with headings describing the type of sample (i.e. shoot, root, protocorm, fungus). Individual values represent % for each system.  Data for 3(d) is presented as total mass (ng) of 14C in shoots ("Shoot 14C") and protocorms ("Protocrom 14C"), arranged as individual values for each replicate system for each of the three media types tested (Water, 50:50, Oatmeal).  Data for Figure 4 are presented as a single table showing media type (water, 50:50, oatmeal), sample type (fungus, protocorm), unit (ng, ng/g) and C. ## Code/Software Data collated in Microsoft Excel.