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 …

Illuminating hydrological processes at the soil‐vegetation‐atmosphere interface with water stable isotopes

M Sprenger, H Leistert, K Gimbel… - Reviews of …, 2016 - Wiley Online Library
Water stable isotopes (18O and 2H) are widely used as ideal tracers to track water through
the soil and to separate evaporation from transpiration. Due to the technical developments in …

Robust ecological drought projections for drylands in the 21st century

JB Bradford, DR Schlaepfer, WK Lauenroth… - Global change …, 2020 - Wiley Online Library
Dryland ecosystems may be especially vulnerable to expected 21st century increases in
temperature and aridity because they are tightly controlled by moisture availability. However …

Remotely sensed soil moisture can capture dynamics relevant to plant water uptake

AF Feldman, DJ Short Gianotti, J Dong… - Water Resources …, 2023 - Wiley Online Library
A frequently expressed viewpoint across the Earth science community is that global soil
moisture estimates from satellite L‐band (1.4 GHz) measurements represent moisture only …

Root depth distribution and the diversity–productivity relationship in a long‐term grassland experiment

KE Mueller, D Tilman, DA Fornara, SE Hobbie - Ecology, 2013 - Wiley Online Library
The relationship between plant diversity and productivity in grasslands could depend, partly,
on how diversity affects vertical distributions of root biomass in soil; yet, no prior study has …

Woody plant encroachment facilitated by increased precipitation intensity

A Kulmatiski, KH Beard - Nature Climate Change, 2013 - nature.com
Global circulation models and empirical evidence suggest that precipitation events are likely
to become more extreme across much of the globe,. As most plant roots are in shallow …

Climate change‐induced vegetation shifts lead to more ecological droughts despite projected rainfall increases in many global temperate drylands

B Tietjen, DR Schlaepfer, JB Bradford… - Global change …, 2017 - Wiley Online Library
Drylands occur worldwide and are particularly vulnerable to climate change because
dryland ecosystems depend directly on soil water availability that may become increasingly …

Influence of competition and rainfall manipulation on the growth responses of savanna trees and grasses

EC February, SI Higgins, WJ Bond, L Swemmer - Ecology, 2013 - Wiley Online Library
In this study, we explored how rainfall manipulation influenced competitive interactions
between grasses and juvenile trees (small nonreproductive trees capable of resprouting) in …

Linking resource‐and disturbance‐based models to explain tree–grass coexistence in savannas

RM Holdo, JB Nippert - New Phytologist, 2023 - Wiley Online Library
Savannas cover a significant fraction of the Earth's land surface. In these ecosystems, C3
trees and C4 grasses coexist persistently, but the mechanisms explaining coexistence …

Determinants of woody encroachment and cover in African savannas

AP Devine, RA McDonald, T Quaife, IMD Maclean - Oecologia, 2017 - Springer
Savanna ecosystems are an integral part of the African landscape and sustain the
livelihoods of millions of people. Woody encroachment in savannas is a widespread …