TY - JOUR
T1 - Root traits as drivers of plant and ecosystem functioning
T2 - current understanding, pitfalls and future research needs
AU - Freschet, Grégoire T.
AU - Roumet, Catherine
AU - Comas, Louise H.
AU - Weemstra, Monique
AU - Bengough, A. Glyn
AU - Rewald, Boris
AU - Bardgett, Richard D.
AU - De Deyn, Gerlinde B.
AU - Johnson, David
AU - Klimešová, Jitka
AU - Lukac, Martin
AU - McCormack, M. Luke
AU - Meier, Ina C.
AU - Pagès, Loïc
AU - Poorter, Hendrik
AU - Prieto, Ivan
AU - Wurzburger, Nina
AU - Zadworny, Marcin
AU - Bagniewska-Zadworna, Agnieszka
AU - Blancaflor, Elison B.
AU - Brunner, Ivano
AU - Gessler, Arthur
AU - Hobbie, Sarah E.
AU - Iversen, Colleen M.
AU - Mommer, Liesje
AU - Picon-Cochard, Catherine
AU - Postma, Johannes A.
AU - Rose, Laura
AU - Ryser, Peter
AU - Scherer-Lorenzen, Michael
AU - Soudzilovskaia, Nadejda A.
AU - Sun, Tao
AU - Valverde-Barrantes, Oscar J.
AU - Weigelt, Alexandra
AU - York, Larry M.
AU - Stokes, Alexia
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the New Phytologist Foundation via financial support to the 25 New Phytologist Workshop ‘Root traits as predictors of plant and soil functions: Aggregating current knowledge to build better foundations for root ecological science’, held in January 2019 in Montpellier, France. We also acknowledge support from Camille Noûs and the Cogitamus Laboratory. JK was supported by the Grant agency of the Czech Republic (19‐13103S). MZ was supported by the Institute of Dendrology, Polish Academy of Sciences. CMI was supported by the Biological and Environmental Research programme in the United States Department of Energy’s Office of Science. We are grateful for the suggestions of three anonymous reviewers. th
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2021 New Phytologist Foundation
PY - 2021/11
Y1 - 2021/11
N2 - The effects of plants on the biosphere, atmosphere and geosphere are key determinants of terrestrial ecosystem functioning. However, despite substantial progress made regarding plant belowground components, we are still only beginning to explore the complex relationships between root traits and functions. Drawing on the literature in plant physiology, ecophysiology, ecology, agronomy and soil science, we reviewed 24 aspects of plant and ecosystem functioning and their relationships with a number of root system traits, including aspects of architecture, physiology, morphology, anatomy, chemistry, biomechanics and biotic interactions. Based on this assessment, we critically evaluated the current strengths and gaps in our knowledge, and identify future research challenges in the field of root ecology. Most importantly, we found that belowground traits with the broadest importance in plant and ecosystem functioning are not those most commonly measured. Also, the estimation of trait relative importance for functioning requires us to consider a more comprehensive range of functionally relevant traits from a diverse range of species, across environments and over time series. We also advocate that establishing causal hierarchical links among root traits will provide a hypothesis-based framework to identify the most parsimonious sets of traits with the strongest links on functions, and to link genotypes to plant and ecosystem functioning.
AB - The effects of plants on the biosphere, atmosphere and geosphere are key determinants of terrestrial ecosystem functioning. However, despite substantial progress made regarding plant belowground components, we are still only beginning to explore the complex relationships between root traits and functions. Drawing on the literature in plant physiology, ecophysiology, ecology, agronomy and soil science, we reviewed 24 aspects of plant and ecosystem functioning and their relationships with a number of root system traits, including aspects of architecture, physiology, morphology, anatomy, chemistry, biomechanics and biotic interactions. Based on this assessment, we critically evaluated the current strengths and gaps in our knowledge, and identify future research challenges in the field of root ecology. Most importantly, we found that belowground traits with the broadest importance in plant and ecosystem functioning are not those most commonly measured. Also, the estimation of trait relative importance for functioning requires us to consider a more comprehensive range of functionally relevant traits from a diverse range of species, across environments and over time series. We also advocate that establishing causal hierarchical links among root traits will provide a hypothesis-based framework to identify the most parsimonious sets of traits with the strongest links on functions, and to link genotypes to plant and ecosystem functioning.
KW - below‐ground ecology
KW - ecosystem properties and processes
KW - environmental gradients
KW - plant functions
KW - root traits
KW - spatial and temporal scales
KW - trait covariation
KW - trait causal relationships
KW - belowground ecology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85116354163&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/nph.17072
DO - 10.1111/nph.17072
M3 - Comment/debate
C2 - 33159479
SN - 0028-646X
VL - 232
SP - 1123
EP - 1158
JO - New Phytologist
JF - New Phytologist
IS - 3
ER -
