Understorey fine root mass and morphology in the litter and upper soil layers of three Chinese subtropical forests

Wang, Wei; Wu, Xiaogang; Hu, Kai; Liu, Jinchun; Tao, Jianping

doi:10.1007/s11104-016-2878-1

Cited by 20 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…3 and 4). Topsoils under forests are always the most susceptible to disturbance, and they can be directly impacted by carbon input through litter and fine roots, which always decline with soil depth (Wang et al, 2016). Our data for the same sites also suggested that fine roots mostly assemble in the upper soil, and fine-root overyielding occurred in the topsoil layer (0-10 cm; see Table S1 in the Supplement).…”

Section: Soil Organic Carbon and Nitrogen Stockssupporting

confidence: 61%

Accumulation of soil organic C and N in planted forests fostered by tree species mixture

2017

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Abstract. With the increasing trend of converting monocultures into mixed forests, more and more studies have been carried out to investigate the admixing effects on tree growth and aboveground carbon storage. However, few studies have considered the impact of mixed forests on belowground carbon sequestration, particularly changes in soil carbon and nitrogen stocks as a forest grows. In this study, paired pure Pinus massoniana plantations, Cinnamomum camphora plantations and mixed Pinus massoniana-Cinnamomum camphora plantations at ages of 10, 24 and 45 years were selected to test whether the mixed plantations sequestrate more organic carbon (OC) and nitrogen (N) in soils and whether this admixing effect becomes more pronounced with stand ages. The results showed that tree species identification, composition and stand age significantly affected soil OC and N stocks. The soil OC and N stocks were the highest in mixed Pinus-Cinnamomum stands compared to those in counterpart monocultures with the same age in the whole soil profile or specific soil depth layers (0-10, 10-20 and 20-30 cm) for most cases, followed by Cinnamomum stands and Pinus stands with the lowest. These positive admixing effects were mostly nonadditive. Along the chronosequence, the soil OC stock peaked in the 24-year-old stand and was maintained as relatively stable thereafter. The admixing effects were also the highest at this stage. However, in the topsoil layer, the admixing effects increased with stand ages in terms of soil OC stocks. When comparing mixed Pinus-Cinnamomum plantations with corresponding monocultures within the same age, the soil N stock in mixed stands was 8.30, 11.17 and 31.45 % higher than the predicted mean value estimated from counterpart pure species plantations in 10-, 24-and 45-year-old stands, respectively. This suggests that these admixing effects were more pronounced along the chronosequence.

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Section: Soil Organic Carbon and Nitrogen Stockssupporting

confidence: 61%

Accumulation of soil organic C and N in planted forests fostered by tree species mixture

2017

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“…In forest ecosystems, high fine root density near the soil surface is important for nutrient conservation (Gautam and Mandal, 2012). Studies (Wang et al, 2016;Shu et al, 2018) have indicated that fine root mass varies with vegetation types and that there is significant variation among soil horizons due to different water and nutrient contents in soil layers (from Du et al, 2019). In our study, the vertical distribution of fine root mass decreased more sharply in forest than grassland, which suggests that pasture has a fine root system capable of reaching deeper soil horizons, increasing the soil exploration capacity for nutrient and water acquisition.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fine Root Density Across Soil Profiles in Tropical Mountain Cloud Forest and Adjacent Managed Fields in Veracruz (Mexico): Influence of Soil Properties

Campos-Cascaredo

Cruz-Huerta²,

Rocha-Ortiz³

2021

Trop Subtrop Agroecosyst

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Background. Fine roots play a crucial in ecosystem functioning as they supply nutrients and water to plants and represent one of the main pathways for carbon transfer to the soil. Objective. This study assessed the vertical distribution of fine root density and analyzed its relationship with soil properties from a land use change perspective in three vegetation cover types (tropical mountain cloud forest, grassland, coffee crop). Methodology. Soil samples of known volume per horizon were extracted from the soil profile. In laboratory, fine roots (≤ 2 mm in diameter) were tweezers picked, rinsed with water and subsequently oven-dried (70 °C), and weighed. While, the soil was air-dried for chemical analysis. Results. In all soil profiles, average fine root density was greater in grassland (16.06 kg m-3 ± 3.5, average ± SE) than in tropical mountain cloud forest (8.45 kg m-3 ± 1.3), and coffee crop (2.73 kg m-3 ± 0.44). On average, grassland, tropical mountain cloud forest, and coffee crop showed 78.4%, 73.2%, and 65%, respectively, of fine root density on the first soil horizon. Implications. Soil properties were strong predictors of fine root density variation. For example, there was a significant positive correlation between fine root density and soil organic carbon, total soil nitrogen, and effective cation exchange capacity (nutrient availability) in all vegetation covers. A significant negative correlation was observed between fine root density and pH in tropical mountain cloud forest but was not correlated in grassland and coffee crop. In all vegetation covers, there was a significant negative correlation between fine root density and soil bulk density and a strong positive correlation between it and soil water content at field capacity. Conclusion. This research contributes data that will improve our understanding of fine root density-soil interactions in a changing regional environment.

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“…Based on anatomical measurements, Trocha et al [11] further revealed that the ratio of absorptive roots decreased significantly at deep soil layers in P. sylvestris, but biomass data on each order were not reported. Many studies have confirmed that fine root standing biomass decreases with increasing soil depth [35][36][37]; to date, if and how the relative share of biomass between absorptive and transport fine roots responds to soil depth still remains unclear. Herein, all three examined hardwood species showed a consistent decline of biomass proportion in absorptive fine roots at deep soil, similar to the fine root standing biomass found in previous studies.…”

Section: Variations In Biomass Repartition Between Absorptive and Tramentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional Trait Plasticity but Not Coordination Differs in Absorptive and Transport Fine Roots in Response to Soil Depth

Wang

et al. 2019

Forests

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Absorptive and transport fine roots (diameter ≤ 2 mm) differ greatly in anatomy, morphology, and physiology, as well as their responses to environmental changes. However, it is still not well understood how their functional traits and biomass repartition respond to resource variability associated with increasing soil depth. Herein, we sampled the first five order roots of three hardwoods, i.e., Juglans mandshurica Maxim., Fraxinus mandshurica Rupr., and Phellodendron amurense Rupr. at surface (0–10 cm) and subsurface (20–30 cm) soil layers, respectively, and measured root biomass, anatomy, morphology, chemistry, and physiology at the branch-order level. Based on the anatomical characteristics, absorptive and transport fine roots were identified within each order, and their amounts and functional trait plasticity to soil depth were examined. The results showed that across soil layers, the first three order roots were mainly absorptive roots, while the fourth- and fifth-order roots were transport ones. From surface to subsurface soil layers, both the number and biomass proportion of absorptive fine roots decreased but those of transport fine roots increased. Transport fine root traits were more plastic to soil depth than absorptive ones, especially for the conduit-related traits. Absorptive fine roots in surface soil generally had stronger potential for resource acquisition than those in deeper soil, as indicated by their longer specific root length and greater root branching density. In comparison, transport fine roots in deeper soil were generally enhanced in their transportation function, with wider stele and higher hydraulic conductivity. Our findings suggest that functional specialization via multi-trait plasticity and coordination in both absorptive and transport fine roots along the soil depth would benefit the efficient soil resource exploitation of trees in forest ecosystems.

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Understorey fine root mass and morphology in the litter and upper soil layers of three Chinese subtropical forests

Cited by 20 publications

References 51 publications

Accumulation of soil organic C and N in planted forests fostered by tree species mixture

Accumulation of soil organic C and N in planted forests fostered by tree species mixture

Fine Root Density Across Soil Profiles in Tropical Mountain Cloud Forest and Adjacent Managed Fields in Veracruz (Mexico): Influence of Soil Properties

Functional Trait Plasticity but Not Coordination Differs in Absorptive and Transport Fine Roots in Response to Soil Depth

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