Shifts in Ectomycorrhizal Fungal Communities and Exploration Types Relate to the Environment and Fine-Root Traits Across Interior Douglas-Fir Forests of Western Canada

Variation in resource acquisition strategies enables plants to adapt to different environments and may partly determine their responses to climate change. However, little is known about how belowground plant traits vary across climate and soil gradients. Focusing on interior Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca) in western Canada, we tested whether fine-root traits relate to the environment at the intraspecific level. We quantified the variation in commonly measured functional root traits (morphological, chemical, and architectural traits) among the first three fine-root orders (i.e., absorptive fine roots) and across biogeographic gradients in climate and soil factors. Moderate but consistent trait-environment linkages occurred across populations of Douglas-fir, despite high levels of within-site variation. Shifts in morphological traits across regions were decoupled from those in chemical traits. Fine roots in colder/drier climates were characterized by a lower tissue density, higher specific area, larger diameter, and lower carbon-to-nitrogen ratio than those in warmer/wetter climates. Our results showed that Douglas-fir fine roots do not rely on adjustments in architectural traits to adapt rooting strategies in different environments. Intraspecific fine-root adjustments at the regional scale do not fit along a single axis of root economic strategy and are concordant with an increase in root acquisitive potential in colder/drier environments.

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Experimentally altered rainfall regimes and host root traits affect grassland arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities

10.32942/osf.io/cu4jh ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Coline Deveautour ◽

Suzanne Donn ◽

Sally Power ◽

Kirk Barnett ◽

Jeff Powell

Keyword(s):

Fungal Community ◽

Community Assembly ◽

Root Length ◽

Specific Root Length ◽

Root Traits ◽

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal ◽

Fungal Communities ◽

Rainfall Regime ◽

Precipitation Regimes ◽

Rainfall Regimes

Future climate scenarios predict changes in rainfall regimes. These changes are expected to affect plants via effects on the expression of root traits associated with water and nutrient uptake. Associated microorganisms may also respond to these new precipitation regimes, either directly in response to changes in the soil environment or indirectly in response to altered root trait expression. We characterised arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal communities in an Australian grassland exposed to experimentally altered rainfall regimes. We used Illumina sequencing to assess the responses of AM fungal communities associated with four plant species sampled in different watering treatments and evaluated the extent to which shifts were associated with changes in root traits. We observed that altered rainfall regimes affected the composition but not the richness of the AM fungal communities, and we found distinctive communities in the increased rainfall treatment. We found no evidence of altered rainfall regime effects via changes in host physiology because none of the studied traits were affected by changes in rainfall. However, specific root length was observed to correlate with AM fungal richness, while concentrations of phosphorus and calcium in root tissue and the proportion of root length allocated to fine roots were correlated to community composition. Our study provides evidence that climate change and its effects on rainfall may influence AM fungal community assembly, as do plant traits related to plant nutrition and water uptake. We did not find evidence that host responses to altered rainfall drive AM fungal community assembly in this grassland ecosystem.

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Functional Trait Responses to Strip Clearcutting in a Moso Bamboo Forest

Forests ◽

10.3390/f12060793 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (6) ◽

pp. 793

Author(s):

Yaxiong Zheng ◽

Fengying Guan ◽

Shaohui Fan ◽

Yang Zhou ◽

Xiong Jing

Keyword(s):

Leaf Area ◽

Functional Traits ◽

Root Length ◽

Fine Root ◽

Root Traits ◽

Moso Bamboo ◽

Leaf Nitrogen Content ◽

Dry Matter Content ◽

Functional Characteristics ◽

Functional Features

Functional characteristics reflect plant strategies and adaptability to the changing environment. Determining the dynamics of these characteristics after harvesting would improve the understanding of forest response strategies. Strip clearcutting (SC) of moso bamboo forests, which significantly reduces the cutting cost, has been proposed to replace manual selective harvesting. A comparison of restoration features shows that 8 m is the optimal cutting width. However, the precise response of functional features to the resulting harvest-created gap remains unclear. In this study, three SC plots were selected which was performed in February 2019, with three unharvested plots as a control (C). The study focused on 10 functional traits, including leaf area (LA), specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), leaf nitrogen content (LNC), leaf phosphorus content (LPC), nitrogen/phosphorus ratio (N:P), wood density (WD), fine root biomass (FRB), specific fine root length (SRL), and root length density (RLD). A one-way ANOVA was used to compare differences in functional traits and soil nutrients between treatments. Strip clearcutting significantly reduced the soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) contents (p < 0.05). In terms of functional characteristics, SC significantly decreased LA and increased LNC, LPC, and N:P (p < 0.05). However, SC had no significant effect on fine root traits (p > 0.05). This study highlighted that root trait, soil content of total phosphorus (TP) and total potassium (TK) returned to the level of uncut plots after a year’s recovery. The LPC, LNC, and N:P were negatively correlated with LA, and LDMC and WD were negatively correlated with SLA, while the effect of SC on fine root traits was limited (p > 0.05). Fine root traits (FRB, RLD, and SRL) were positively associated with SOC, TN, and TP, but negatively correlated with TK. The changes in soil nutrient content caused by the removal of biomass were normal. Increased light and the rapid growth of new trees will increase nutrient regressions; therefore, these results further confirm the feasibility of SC.

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Fine root traits in Chamaecyparis obtusa forest soils with different acid buffering capacities

Trees ◽

10.1007/s00468-015-1291-3 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 30 (2) ◽

pp. 415-429 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Kouhei Miyatani ◽

Yuki Mizusawa ◽

Kazuki Okada ◽

Toko Tanikawa ◽

Naoki Makita ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Forest Soils ◽

Fine Root ◽

Root Traits ◽

Chamaecyparis Obtusa ◽

Acid Buffering

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Effects of warming and fertilization interacting with intraspecific competition on fine root traits of Picea asperata

Journal of Plant Ecology ◽

10.1093/jpe/rtaa074 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Dan-Dan Li ◽

Hong-Wei Nan ◽

Chun-Zhang Zhao ◽

Chun-Ying Yin ◽

Qing Liu

Keyword(s):

Root Growth ◽

Climate Warming ◽

Tree Growth ◽

Root Length ◽

Root Biomass ◽

Fine Root ◽

Root Traits ◽

Root Surface ◽

Root Branching ◽

Picea Asperata

Abstract Aims Competition, temperature, and nutrient are the most important determinants of tree growth in the cold climate on the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Although many studies have reported their individual effects on tree growth, little is known about how the interactions of competition with fertilization and temperature affect root growth. We aim to test whether climate warming and fertilization promote competition and to explore the functional strategies of Picea asperata in response to the interactions of these factors. Methods We conducted a paired experiment including competition and non-competition treatments under elevated temperature (ET) and fertilization. We measured root traits, including the root tip number over the root surface (RTRS), the root branching events over the root surface (RBRS), the specific root length (SRL), the specific root area (SRA), the total fine root length and area (RL and RA), the root tips (RT) and root branching events (RB). These root traits are considered to be indicators of plant resource uptake capacity and root growth. The root biomass and the nutrient concentrations in the roots were also determined. Important Findings The results indicated that ET, fertilization and competition individually enhanced the nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) concentrations in fine roots, but they did not affect fine root biomass or root traits, including RL, RT, RA and RB. However, both temperature and fertilization, as well as their interaction, interacting with competition increased RL, RA, RT, RB, and nutrient uptake. In addition, the SRL, SRA, RTRS and RBRS decreased under fertilization, the interaction between temperature and competition decreased SRL and SRA, while the other parameters were not affected by temperature or competition. These results indicate that Picea asperata maintains a conservative nutrient strategy in response to competition, climate warming, fertilization, and their interactions. Our results improve our understanding of the physiological and ecological adaptability of trees to global change.

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