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Root systems of chaparral shrubs were excavated from a 70 m plot of a mixed chaparral stand located on a north-facing slope in San Diego County (32°54' N; 900 m above sea level). The main shrub species present were Adenostoma fasciculatum, Arctostaphylos pungens, Ceanothus greggii, Erigonum fasciculatum, and Haplopappus pinifolius. Shrubs were wired into their positions, and the soil was washed out beneath them down to a depth of approximately 60 cm, where impenetrable granite impeded further washing and root growth was severely restricted. Spacing and interweaving of root systems were recorded by an in-scale drawing. The roots were harvested in accordance to their depths, separated into diameter size classes for each species, and their dry weights measured. Roots of shrubs were largely confined to the upper soil levels. The roots of Eriogonum fasciculatum were concentrated in the upper soil layer. Roots of Adenostoma fasciculatum tended to be more superficial than those from Ceanothus greggii. It is hypothesized that the shallow soil at the excavation site impeded a clear depth zonation of the different root systems. The average dry weight root:shoot ratio was 0.6, ranging for the individual shrubs from 0.8 to 0.4. The root area always exceeded the shoot area, with the corresponding ratios ranging from 6 for Arctostaphylos pungens to 40 for Haplopappus pinifolius. The fine root density of 64 g dry weight per m under the canopy was significantly higher than in the unshaded area. However, the corresponding value of 45 g dry weight per m for the open ground is still high enough to make the establishment of other shrubs difficult.

Very limited information regarding fine-root growth and production of tropical dry forests is available. Fine roots and small roots are defined as rootlets with diameters < 1 mm and 1.1 to 5 mm, respectively. Live and dead fine-and small-root mass fluctuations were studied over one year by means of soil core analyses in the deciduous dry forest of Chamela, Mexico, at 19 ° 30', 2 km inland from the Pacific Ocean. By means of systematically varying the distance of soil core extraction points from tree stems, it was shown that random core collection is justified. A difference between fine-root biomass on south and north facing slopes was documented, although this difference was significant only during the rainy season. The live/dead ratio of fine roots was highest during the rainy period. The annual fine-root production for 1989 was estimated at 4.23 Mg ha l by summing significant fine-root biomass changes between sampling dates. This value is higher than most of the comparable data from other ecosystems.

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The deciduous tropical dry forest at Chamela (Jalisco, Mexico) occurs in a seasonal climate with eight rainless (November through June) and four wet months (700 mm annual precipitation). The forest reaches a mean height of 10 m. Tree density in the research area was 4700 trees per ha with a basal area at breast height of 23 m 2 per ha. The above-and below-ground biomass of trees, shrubs, and lianas was 73.6 Mg ha-and 31 Mg ha -1, respectively. A root:shoot biomass ratio of 0.42 was calculated. Nearly two thirds of all roots occur in the 0-20 cm soil layer and 29% of all roots have a diameter of less than 5 mm.

The effect of differential root and shoot temperatures on biomass production of the arctic sedges Eriophorum vaginatum and Carex bigelowii was analyzed under controlled environmental conditions. Both species showed active growth at 2 °C root and shoot temperatures although warmer conditions substantially enhanced biomass production. In E. vaginatum, under the optimal 12 °C root and 12 °C shoot temperature regime, about six times more biomass was produced than under the 2 °C conditions. The corresponding temperatures for C. bigelowii were 12 °C root and 22 °C air, although the data did not preclude a higher temperature optimum for this species. The results support the hypothesis that in arctic sedges the root/shoot biomass ratios are small with low root temperatures, i.e., a relatively large fraction of the photosynthate is allocated to leaf production under cold conditions.

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