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

In this review, we address the relationship between stomatal behaviour, water potential
regulation and hydraulic transport in plants, focusing on the implications for the …

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 …

The identification of plant functional traits that can be linked to ecosystem processes is of
wide interest, especially for predicting vegetational responses to climate change. Root …

Although linkages of leaf and whole‐plant traits to leaf lifespan have been rigorously
investigated, there is a limited understanding of similar linkages of whole‐plant and fine root …

Hydraulic redistribution (HR)–the movement of water from moist to dry soil through plant
roots–occurs worldwide within a range of different ecosystems and plant species. The …

Below‐ground plant functional traits regulate plant–soil interactions and may therefore
strongly influence ecosystem responses to global change. Despite this, knowledge of how …

The lifespan of fast-cycling roots is a critical parameter determining a large flux of plant
carbon into soil through root turnover and is a biological feature regulating the capacity of a …

Historically, ephemeral roots have been equated with 'fine roots'(ie all roots of less than an
arbitrary diameter, such as 2 mm), but evidence shows that 'fine roots' in woody species are …

On the basis of a synthesis of recent progress in belowground ecology, we advance and
discuss a hypothesis that relates root trait evolution to the increased dominance of …