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Patterns and environmental drivers of root traits across hydrological gradients in old growth boreal forests
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DOI：10.1002/oik.11955.png)
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Abstract
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Many key ecosystem functions are affected by plant roots and their traits. However, understanding of the patterns in, and drivers of, root traits lags far behind equivalent knowledge of above-ground tissues, particularly in boreal old growth forests. We surveyed community-level root traits across 11 old growth forests spanning a wide latitudinal range in Sweden, encompassing a ~7oC range in mean annual temperature. In each forest, three plots were selected in locations with low, intermediate and high soil moisture index (SMI). We then applied principal components, redundancy analysis and linear regression to quantify how root traits co-varied with stand abiotic and biotic properties, including plant foliar area in the same stands. Stand hydrology did not affect overall mass based root trait values (tissue density, nitrogen content, carbon:nitrogen ratio, root tips, length and area per unit dry root mass), but appeared to strongly mediate the responses of these traits to environmental drivers across forests. Overall, measured root and leaf area per unit ground area were not clearly related to each other or to tree biomass across plots and forests. Measured root surface area per unit ground area was much greater than literature estimates from similar forests, and ~3 times greater than leaf area per unit ground area recorded from the same forests. Our results provide a valuable baseline for root traits in old growth boreal forests, redefining what are considered typical or natural root properties for the biome and highlighting key environmental controls.
Keywords:
above-belowground interactions
coniferous forest
forest hydrology
functional balance theory
root morphology
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