Functional traits and root morphology of alpine plants

Pohl, Mandy; Stroude, Raphaël; Buttler, Alexandre; Rixen, Christian

doi:10.1093/aob/mcr169

Cited by 65 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…), lignin concentration (Silver & Miya ), presence of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbionts (Hodge, Campbell & Fitter ) as well as morphological traits like root diameter, tissue density and toughness (Pohl et al . ; but see Birouste et al . ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant species richness negatively affects root decomposition in grasslands

et al. 2016

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Summary1. Plant diversity enhances many ecosystem functions, including root biomass production, which drives soil carbon input. Although root decomposition accounts for a large proportion of carbon input for soil, little is known about plant diversity effect on this process. Plant diversity may affect root decomposition in two nonexclusive ways: by providing roots of different substrate quality (e.g. root chemistry) and/or by altering the soil environment (e.g. microclimate). 2.To disentangle these two pathways, we conducted three decomposition experiments using a litter-bag approach in a grassland biodiversity experiment. We hypothesized that: (i) plant species richness negatively affects substrate quality (indicated by increased C:N ratios), which we tested by decomposing roots collected from each experimental plot in one common plot; (ii) plant species richness positively affects soil environment (indicated by increased soil water content), which we tested by decomposing standardized roots in all experimental plots; (iii) the overall effect of plant species richness on root decomposition, due to the contrast between quality and environmental effects, is neutral, which we tested by decomposing community roots in their 'home' plots.3. Plant species richness negatively affected root decomposition in all three experiments. The negative effect of plant species richness on substrate quality was largely explained by increased root C:N ratios along the diversity gradient. Functional group presence explained more variance in substrate quality than species richness. Here, the presence of grasses negatively affected substrate quality and root C:N ratios, while the presence of legumes and small herbs had positive effects. Plant species richness had a negative effect on soil environment despite its positive effect on soil water content which is known to stimulate decomposition. We argue that -instead of soil water content -a combined effect of soil temperature and seasonality might drive environmental effect of plant diversity on decomposition in our plant communities, but this remains to be tested. 4.Synthesis. Our results demonstrate that both substrate quality and soil environment contribute to the net negative effect of plant diversity on root decomposition. This study promotes our mechanistic understanding of increased soil carbon accumulation in more diverse grassland plant communities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant species richness negatively affects root decomposition in grasslands

et al. 2016

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“…Different PFTs vary in root display (presence of taproot, lateral spread, and dimorphism), maximum depth, and morphological traits that affect their interaction with the soil (Canadell et al ., ; Schenk, ; Pohl et al ., ). Root distribution varies across biomes and does not necessarily depend on soil depth.…”

Section: Recommendations For Leveraging Root Knowledge Into Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Root structural and functional dynamics in terrestrial biosphere models – evaluation and recommendations

et al. 2014

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59I.59II.62III.69IV.7373References73 Summary There is wide breadth of root function within ecosystems that should be considered when modeling the terrestrial biosphere. Root structure and function are closely associated with control of plant water and nutrient uptake from the soil, plant carbon (C) assimilation, partitioning and release to the soils, and control of biogeochemical cycles through interactions within the rhizosphere. Root function is extremely dynamic and dependent on internal plant signals, root traits and morphology, and the physical, chemical and biotic soil environment. While plant roots have significant structural and functional plasticity to changing environmental conditions, their dynamics are noticeably absent from the land component of process‐based Earth system models used to simulate global biogeochemical cycling. Their dynamic representation in large‐scale models should improve model veracity. Here, we describe current root inclusion in models across scales, ranging from mechanistic processes of single roots to parameterized root processes operating at the landscape scale. With this foundation we discuss how existing and future root functional knowledge, new data compilation efforts, and novel modeling platforms can be leveraged to enhance root functionality in large‐scale terrestrial biosphere models by improving parameterization within models, and introducing new components such as dynamic root distribution and root functional traits linked to resource extraction.

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“…Regeneration traits have been long acknowledged as relevant to the natural maintenance of biodiversity (Grubb, ), and have been found to be important for both species coexistence and species sorting (Bernard‐Verdier et al., ; Fernández‐Pascual, Pérez‐Arcoiza, Prieto, & Díaz, ; Pierce, Bottinelli, Bassani, Ceriani, & Cerabolini, ). Processes captured by regeneration traits including flowering, seed production, clonal growth, dispersal, germination, and growth rates are relevant to community assembly, species turnover, survival and persistence (Klimešová, Tackenberg, & Herben, ; Pohl, Stroude, Buttler, & Rixen, ; Poschlod et al., ). When combined with non‐regeneration traits, regeneration traits might add new dimensions to the plant trait spectrum (Herben, Tackenberg, & Klimešová, ; ; Pierce et al., ; Salguero‐Gómez et al., ), providing a better understanding of the role of environmental filtering in plant communities and on different types of traits.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The functional trait spectrum of European temperate grasslands

Ladouceur

Bonomi

Bruelheide

et al. 2019

J Vegetation Science

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Questions What is the functional trait variation of European temperate grasslands and how does this reflect global patterns of plant form and function? Do habitat specialists show trait differentiation across habitat types? Location Europe. Methods We compiled 18 regeneration and non‐regeneration traits for a continental species pool consisting of 645 species frequent in five grassland types. These grassland types are widely distributed in Europe but differentiated by altitude, soil bedrock and traditional long‐term management and disturbance regimes. We evaluated the multivariate trait space of this entire species pool and compared multi‐trait variation and mean trait values of habitat specialists grouped by grassland type. Results The first dimension of the trait space accounted for 23% of variation and reflected a gradient between fast‐growing and slow‐growing plants. Plant height and SLA contributed to both the first and second ordination axes. Regeneration traits mainly contributed to the second and following dimensions to explain 56% of variation across the first five axes. Habitat specialists showed functional differences between grassland types mainly through non‐regeneration traits. Conclusions The trait spectrum of plants dominating European temperate grasslands is primarily explained by growth strategies which are analogous to the trait variation observed at the global scale, and secondly by regeneration strategies. Functional differentiation of habitat specialists across grassland types is mainly related to environmental filtering linked with altitude and disturbance. This filtering pattern is mainly observed in non‐regeneration traits, while most regeneration traits demonstrate multiple strategies within the same habitat type.

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Functional traits and root morphology of alpine plants

Cited by 65 publications

References 30 publications

Plant species richness negatively affects root decomposition in grasslands

Plant species richness negatively affects root decomposition in grasslands

Root structural and functional dynamics in terrestrial biosphere models – evaluation and recommendations

The functional trait spectrum of European temperate grasslands

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