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Published VersionCC BY V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Belowground exploration by trees and shrubs
Plant Ecology, Vol.225, pp.605-610
2024
Appears in UniSC Supported Open Access Outputs
Abstract
Unlike trees, shrubs (i.e., multiple-stemmed woody plants) do not need evenly spaced large diameter structural roots and therefore should be more responsive to heterogeneous distributions of soil resources and spread further per unit belowground biomass. We therefore hypothesized that compared to trees, shrubs respond more to asymmetric distributions of nutrients, reach nutrient-rich patches of soil faster, and do so with less below-ground biomass. To test these three hypotheses, we planted individual seedlings of shrubs (Cornus racemosa, Rhus glabra, and Viburnum dentatum) and trees (Acer rubrum, Betula populifolia, and Fraxinus americana) in the centers of sand-filled rectangular boxes. In one direction we created a stepwise gradient of increasing nutrients with slow-release fertilizer; in the other direction, no fertilizer was added. Seedlings were harvested when their first root reached the plexiglass-covered fertilized end of their box; time taken, above-ground biomass, and below-ground biomass per nutrient segment were determined. Shrubs and trees did not consistently differ in precision of root foraging (i.e., the ratio of biomass in the fertilized and unfertilized soil) or in rates (g/day) and efficiencies (cm/day) of lateral root growth. Interspecific variation appeared more related to species' habitats than to growth form. The fastest and most efficient roots were produced by the shrub (R. glabra) and the tree (B. populifolia), both characteristic of poor and heterogeneous soils. Root foraging by R. glabra was also facilitated by rapid rhizomatous expansion.
Details
- Title
- Belowground exploration by trees and shrubs
- Authors
- Francis E. Putz (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Tropical Forests and People Research CentreCharles D. Canham - Cary Institute of Ecosystem StudiesScott V. Ollinger - University of New Hampshire
- Publication details
- Plant Ecology, Vol.225, pp.605-610
- Publisher
- Springer Dordrecht
- Date published
- 2024
- DOI
- 10.1007/s11258-024-01416-7
- ISSN
- 1573-5052; 1385-0237
- Copyright note
- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Data Availability
- All data will be made available by the Environmental Data Initiative (EDI) after acceptance.
- Organisation Unit
- Tropical Forests and People Research Centre
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991017598702621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Domestic collaboration
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- Web Of Science research areas
- Ecology
- Forestry
- Plant Sciences
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