A starting guide to root ecology: strengthening ecological concepts and standardising root classification, sampling, processing and trait measurements

GT Freschet, L Pagès, CM Iversen, LH Comas… - New …, 2021 - Wiley Online Library
In the context of a recent massive increase in research on plant root functions and their
impact on the environment, root ecologists currently face many important challenges to keep …

Mycorrhizal types differ in ecophysiology and alter plant nutrition and soil processes

L Tedersoo, M Bahram - Biological Reviews, 2019 - Wiley Online Library
Mycorrhizal fungi benefit plants by improved mineral nutrition and protection against stress,
yet information about fundamental differences among mycorrhizal types in fungi and trees …

The world‐wide 'fast–slow'plant economics spectrum: a traits manifesto

PB Reich - Journal of ecology, 2014 - Wiley Online Library
The leaf economics spectrum (LES) provides a useful framework for examining species
strategies as shaped by their evolutionary history. However, that spectrum, as originally …

The root of the matter: Linking root traits and soil organic matter stabilization processes

V Poirier, C Roumet, AD Munson - Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 2018 - Elsevier
Plant roots contribute substantially to the formation of stable soil organic matter (SOM), and
there is evidence that species differ in their contribution to SOM stabilization. However, it …

Root structure–function relationships in 74 species: evidence of a root economics spectrum related to carbon economy

C Roumet, M Birouste, C Picon‐Cochard… - New …, 2016 - Wiley Online Library
Although fine roots are important components of the global carbon cycle, there is limited
understanding of root structure–function relationships among species. We determined …

The mycorrhizal‐associated nutrient economy: a new framework for predicting carbon–nutrient couplings in temperate forests

RP Phillips, E Brzostek, MG Midgley - New Phytologist, 2013 - Wiley Online Library
Understanding the context dependence of ecosystem responses to global changes requires
the development of new conceptual frameworks. Here we propose a framework for …

Plant species effects on nutrient cycling: revisiting litter feedbacks

SE Hobbie - Trends in ecology & evolution, 2015 - cell.com
In a review published over two decades ago I asserted that, along soil fertility gradients,
plant traits change in ways that reinforce patterns of soil fertility and net primary productivity …

A worldview of root traits: the influence of ancestry, growth form, climate and mycorrhizal association on the functional trait variation of fine‐root tissues in seed plants

OJ Valverde‐Barrantes, GT Freschet… - New …, 2017 - Wiley Online Library
Fine‐root traits play key roles in ecosystem processes, but the drivers of fine‐root trait
diversity remain poorly understood. The plant economic spectrum (PES) hypothesis predicts …

Linking litter decomposition of above‐and below‐ground organs to plant–soil feedbacks worldwide

GT Freschet, WK Cornwell, DA Wardle… - Journal of …, 2013 - Wiley Online Library
Conceptual frameworks relating plant traits to ecosystem processes such as organic matter
dynamics are progressively moving from a leaf‐centred to a whole‐plant perspective …

Contrasting dynamics and trait controls in first-order root compared with leaf litter decomposition

T Sun, SE Hobbie, B Berg, H Zhang… - Proceedings of the …, 2018 - National Acad Sciences
Decomposition is a key component of the global carbon (C) cycle, yet current ecosystem C
models do not adequately represent the contributions of plant roots and their mycorrhizae to …