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Cusack DF, Christoffersen B, Smith-Martin CM, Andersen KM, Cordeiro AL, Fleischer K, Wright SJ, Guerrero-Ramírez NR, Lugli LF, McCulloch LA, Sanchez-Julia M, Batterman SA, Dallstream C, Fortunel C, Toro L, Fuchslueger L, Wong MY, Yaffar D, Fisher JB, Arnaud M, Dietterich LH, Addo-Danso SD, Valverde-Barrantes OJ, Weemstra M, Ng JC, Norby RJ. Toward a coordinated understanding of hydro-biogeochemical root functions in tropical forests for application in vegetation models. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2024; 242:351-371. [PMID: 38416367 DOI: 10.1111/nph.19561] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2023] [Accepted: 01/10/2024] [Indexed: 02/29/2024]
Abstract
Tropical forest root characteristics and resource acquisition strategies are underrepresented in vegetation and global models, hampering the prediction of forest-climate feedbacks for these carbon-rich ecosystems. Lowland tropical forests often have globally unique combinations of high taxonomic and functional biodiversity, rainfall seasonality, and strongly weathered infertile soils, giving rise to distinct patterns in root traits and functions compared with higher latitude ecosystems. We provide a roadmap for integrating recent advances in our understanding of tropical forest belowground function into vegetation models, focusing on water and nutrient acquisition. We offer comparisons of recent advances in empirical and model understanding of root characteristics that represent important functional processes in tropical forests. We focus on: (1) fine-root strategies for soil resource exploration, (2) coupling and trade-offs in fine-root water vs nutrient acquisition, and (3) aboveground-belowground linkages in plant resource acquisition and use. We suggest avenues for representing these extremely diverse plant communities in computationally manageable and ecologically meaningful groups in models for linked aboveground-belowground hydro-nutrient functions. Tropical forests are undergoing warming, shifting rainfall regimes, and exacerbation of soil nutrient scarcity caused by elevated atmospheric CO2. The accurate model representation of tropical forest functions is crucial for understanding the interactions of this biome with the climate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela F Cusack
- Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, Warner College of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, 1231 Libbie Coy Way, A104, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1476, USA
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado, Balboa, 0843-03092, Panama
| | - Bradley Christoffersen
- School of Integrative Biological and Chemical Sciences, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX, 78539, USA
| | - Chris M Smith-Martin
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, 55108, USA
| | | | - Amanda L Cordeiro
- Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, Warner College of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, 1231 Libbie Coy Way, A104, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1476, USA
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado, Balboa, 0843-03092, Panama
| | - Katrin Fleischer
- Department Biogeochemical Signals, Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans-Knöll-Straße 10, Jena, 07745, Germany
| | - S Joseph Wright
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado, Balboa, 0843-03092, Panama
| | - Nathaly R Guerrero-Ramírez
- Silviculture and Forest Ecology of Temperate Zones, Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology, University of Göttingen, Gottingen, 37077, Germany
- Centre of Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Use (CBL), University of Göttingen, Gottingen, 37077, Germany
| | - Laynara F Lugli
- School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Freising, 85354, Germany
| | - Lindsay A McCulloch
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
- National Center for Atmospheric Research, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency, 1850 Table Mesa Dr., Boulder, CO, 80305, USA
| | - Mareli Sanchez-Julia
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, 70118, USA
| | - Sarah A Batterman
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado, Balboa, 0843-03092, Panama
- Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY, 12545, USA
- School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
| | - Caroline Dallstream
- Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Av. du Docteur-Penfield, Montreal, QC, H3A 1B1, Canada
| | - Claire Fortunel
- AMAP (Botanique et Modélisation de l'Architecture des Plantes et des Végétations), Université de Montpellier, CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Montpellier, 34398, France
| | - Laura Toro
- Yale Applied Science Synthesis Program, The Forest School at the Yale School of the Environment, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA
| | - Lucia Fuchslueger
- Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, University of Vienna, Vienna, 1030, Austria
| | - Michelle Y Wong
- Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY, 12545, USA
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA
| | - Daniela Yaffar
- Functional Forest Ecology, Universität Hamburg, Barsbüttel, 22885, Germany
| | - Joshua B Fisher
- Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, 1 University Drive, Orange, CA, 92866, USA
| | - Marie Arnaud
- Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences (IEES), UMR 7618, CNRS-Sorbonne University-INRAE-UPEC-IRD, Paris, 75005, France
- School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences & BIFOR, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
| | - Lee H Dietterich
- Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, Warner College of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, 1231 Libbie Coy Way, A104, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1476, USA
- U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Environmental Laboratory, Vicksburg, MS, 39180, USA
- Department of Biology, Haverford College, Haverford, PA, 19003, USA
| | - Shalom D Addo-Danso
- Forests and Climate Change Division, CSIR-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, P.O Box UP 63 KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana
| | - Oscar J Valverde-Barrantes
- Department of Biological Sciences, International Center for Tropical Biodiversity, Florida International University, Miami, FL, 33199, USA
| | - Monique Weemstra
- Department of Biological Sciences, International Center for Tropical Biodiversity, Florida International University, Miami, FL, 33199, USA
| | - Jing Cheng Ng
- Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 639798, Singapore
| | - Richard J Norby
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA
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Li Q, Jia Z, He L, Zhao X, Yang H. Fine root dynamics and its contribution to soil organic carbon stocks with Caragana intermedia plantation development in alpine sandy land. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2023; 14:1093678. [PMID: 36968380 PMCID: PMC10034096 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1093678] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2022] [Accepted: 02/14/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Shrubs are the main species in desert ecosystems. Better understanding shrubs fine root dynamics and its contribution to soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks can improve the accuracy of carbon sequestration estimation and provide basic data for the calculation of carbon sequestration potential. The ingrowth core method was used to investigate the fine root (< 1 mm in diameter) dynamics of Caragana intermedia Kuang et H. C. Fu plantation with different age (4-, 6-, 11-, 17-, and 31-year-old) in Gonghe Basin of the Tibetan Plateau, and the annual fine root mortality was used for calculation the annual carbon input to SOC pool. The results showed that fine root biomass, production, and mortality first increased and then decreased as the plantation age increased. Fine root biomass peaked in 17-year-old plantation, production and mortality peaked in 6-year-old plantation, and turnover rate of 4- and 6-year-old plantations were significantly higher than other plantations. Fine root production and mortality were negative correlated with soil nutrients at depth of 0-20 and 20-40 cm. The variation range of carbon input by fine root mortality across different plantation age at 0-60 cm soil depth was 0.54-0.85 Mg ha-1 year-1, accounting for 2.40-7.54% of the SOC stocks. C. intermedia plantation has a strong carbon sequestration potential from long time scale. Fine roots regenerate faster in young stands and lower soil nutrients environment. Our results suggest that the influences of plantation age and soil depth should be taken into account when calculating the contribution of fine root to SOC stocks in desert ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qingxue Li
- Institute of Ecological Conservation and Restoration, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, China
- Qinghai Gonghe Desert Ecosystem Research Station, China Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network, Qinghai, China
| | - Zhiqing Jia
- Institute of Ecological Conservation and Restoration, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, China
- Qinghai Gonghe Desert Ecosystem Research Station, China Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network, Qinghai, China
- Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, China
| | - Lingxianzi He
- Institute of Ecological Conservation and Restoration, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, China
- Qinghai Gonghe Desert Ecosystem Research Station, China Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network, Qinghai, China
| | - Xuebin Zhao
- Qinghai Gonghe Desert Ecosystem Research Station, China Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network, Qinghai, China
| | - Henghua Yang
- Qinghai Gonghe Desert Ecosystem Research Station, China Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network, Qinghai, China
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Liu L, Guo Y, Liu X, Yao Y, Qi W. Coordinated variation in root and leaf functional traits of Hippophae rhamnoides treated at different stump heights in feldspathic sandstone areas of Inner Mongolia. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2023; 14:1104632. [PMID: 36866378 PMCID: PMC9971914 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1104632] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2022] [Accepted: 02/03/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
This study was aimed to clarify the effects of stumping on root and leaf traits as well as the tradeoffs and synergies of decaying Hippophae rhamnoides in feldspathic sandstone areas, and to select the optimal stump height that contributed to the recovery and growth of H. rhamnoides. variations and coordination between leaf traits and fine root traits of H. rhamnoides were studied at different stump heights (0, 10, 15, 20 cm, and no stumping) in feldspathic sandstone areas. All functional traits of the leaves and roots, except the leaf C content (LC) and the fine root C content (FRC), were significantly different among different stump heights. The total variation coefficient was the largest in the specific leaf area (SLA), which is therefore the most sensitive trait. Compared to non-stumping, SLA, leaf N content (LN), specific root length (SRL) and fine root N content (FRN) all improved significantly at stump height of 15 cm, but leaf tissue density (LTD), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), leaf carbon to nitrogen ratio (LC : LN), fine root tissue density (FRTD), fine root dry matter content (FRDMC) and fine root carbon to nitrogen ratio (FRC : FRN) all decreased significantly. The leaf traits of H. rhamnoides at different stump heights follow the leaf economic spectrum, and the fine roots show a similar trait syndrome to the leaves. SLA and LN are positively correlated with SRL and FRN and negatively with FRTD and FRC : FRN. LDMC and LC : LN are positively correlated with FRTD and FRC : FRN, and negatively correlated SRL and RN. The stumped H. rhamnoides changes to the 'rapid investment-return type' resource trade-offs strategy, and the growth rate is maximized at the stump height of 15 cm. Our findings are critical to the prevention and control of vegetation recovery and soil erosion in feldspathic sandstone areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lu Liu
- College of Desert Control Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, China
| | - Yuefeng Guo
- College of Desert Control Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, China
| | - Xiaoyu Liu
- College of Desert Control Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, China
| | - Yunfeng Yao
- College of Desert Control Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, China
| | - Wei Qi
- Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Water Conservancy Development Center, Hohhot, China
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Du Y, Zhang Y, Guo Z, Zhang Z, Zeng F. Vein Network and Climatic Factors Predict the Leaf Economic Spectrum of Desert Plants in Xinjiang, China. PLANTS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 12:581. [PMID: 36771664 PMCID: PMC9920464 DOI: 10.3390/plants12030581] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2023] [Revised: 01/24/2023] [Accepted: 01/26/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The leaf economic spectrum (LES) has been repeatedly verified with regional and global datasets. However, the LES of desert plants and its drivers has not been fully explored at the species level. In this study, we sampled three desert perennial plant species (Alhagi sparsifolia, Karelinia caspia, and Apocynum venetum) at three different geographical areas of distribution in Xinjiang, China, and measured 10 leaf economic traits to determine their strategy of resource utilization. The scores of the first axis from the principal component analysis of 10 leaf economic traits as a continuous variable define the LES. This study showed that the LES did exist in desert plants in this region. The leaf economic spectrum shifted from a more conservative strategy to a more acquisitive strategy with increasing contents of soil potassium (K) and the ratio of K to phosphorus. Except for the vein density of A. venetum, which quadratically correlated with LES, the vein density, distance between veins, and vein loopiness significantly positively correlated with the LES (p < 0.05), indicating a covariation and tradeoff relationship. The annual mean temperature was significantly negatively correlated with LES, while the annual mean precipitation (MAP) and the aridity index (AI), which was calculated by the ratio of MAP to potential evapotranspiration, significantly positively correlated with the LES. Of these, vein loopiness and AI were more effective at predicting the change in LES from anatomical and climatic perspectives owing to their high regression coefficients (R2). The findings of this study will substantially improve the understanding of the strategies of desert plants to utilize resources and predict the structure and function of ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi Du
- Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Desert Plant Roots Ecology and Vegetation Restoration, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
- State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
- Cele National Station of Observation and Research for Desert-Grassland Ecosystems, Cele 848300, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Yulin Zhang
- Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Desert Plant Roots Ecology and Vegetation Restoration, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
- State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
- Cele National Station of Observation and Research for Desert-Grassland Ecosystems, Cele 848300, China
- College of Ecology and Environmental, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, China
| | - Zichun Guo
- State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Zhihao Zhang
- Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Desert Plant Roots Ecology and Vegetation Restoration, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
- State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
- Cele National Station of Observation and Research for Desert-Grassland Ecosystems, Cele 848300, China
| | - Fanjiang Zeng
- Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Desert Plant Roots Ecology and Vegetation Restoration, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
- State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
- Cele National Station of Observation and Research for Desert-Grassland Ecosystems, Cele 848300, China
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Yang K, Chen G, Xian J, Chen W. Varying Relationship Between Vascular Plant Leaf Area and Leaf Biomass Along an Elevational Gradient on the Eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2022; 13:824461. [PMID: 35498702 PMCID: PMC9040073 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.824461] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2021] [Accepted: 03/07/2022] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The altitudinal gradient is one of the driving factors leading to leaf trait variation. It is crucial to understand the response and adaptation strategies of plants to explore the variation of leaf traits and their scaling relationship along the altitudinal gradient. We measured six main leaf traits of 257 woody species at 26 altitudes ranging from 1,050 to 3,500 m within the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and analyzed the scaling relationships among leaf fresh weight, leaf dry weight, and leaf area. The results showed that leaf dry weight increased significantly with elevation, while leaf fresh weight and leaf area showed a unimodal change. Leaf dry weight and fresh weight showed an allometric relationship, and leaf fresh weight increased faster than leaf dry weight. The scaling exponent of leaf area and leaf fresh weight (or dry weight) was significantly greater than 1, indicating that there have increasing returns for pooled data. For α and normalization constants (β), only β of leaf area vs. leaf fresh weight (or dry weight) had significantly increased with altitude. All three paired traits had positive linear relationships between α and β. Our findings suggest that plants adapt to altitudinal gradient by changing leaf area and biomass investment and coordinating scaling relationships among traits. But leaf traits variation had a minor effect on scaling exponent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ketong Yang
- College of Forestry, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, China
| | - Guopeng Chen
- College of Forestry, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, China
| | - Junren Xian
- College of Environmental Sciences, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
| | - Weiwei Chen
- College of Forestry, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, China
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