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 …

Fine roots acquire essential soil resources and mediate biogeochemical cycling in terrestrial
ecosystems. Estimates of carbon and nutrient allocation to build and maintain these …

Global nitrogen (N) deposition patterns have profoundly affected the production and
morphological structure of fine roots, which in turn changed the distribution of carbon in …

Plant roots have greatly diversified in form and function since the emergence of the first land
plants,, but the global organization of functional traits in roots remains poorly understood …

Nitrogen and phosphorous are critical determinants of plant growth and productivity, and
both plant growth and root morphology are important parameters for evaluating the effects of …

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 search for a root economics spectrum (RES) has been sparked by recent interest in trait‐
based plant ecology. By analogy with the one‐dimensional leaf economics spectrum (LES) …

Root exudation stimulates microbial decomposition and enhances nutrient availability to
plants. It remains difficult to measure and predict this carbon flux in natural conditions …

Plant functional traits are the features (morphological, physiological, phenological) that
represent ecological strategies and determine how plants respond to environmental factors …

Although fine roots are important components of the global carbon cycle, there is limited
understanding of root structure–function relationships among species. We determined …