Publications by authors named "O J Valverde-Barrantes"
Article Synopsis
- Carbon plays a crucial role in how plants and their roots evolve and function, with previous research focusing primarily on a limited number of root traits related to resource economics.
- This study examines 66 tree species from a tropical forest, finding that root traits vary significantly with molecular-level traits, revealing that thinner roots have more carbohydrates and less molecular carbon diversity compared to thicker roots.
- The transition from thin to thick fine roots indicates a shift in their function from independent soil exploration to reliance on mycorrhizal fungi, while the change from lighter to denser roots reflects a move from an acquisitive to a conservative root strategy, shedding light on the diversity of root forms and their ecological roles.
Fine root lifespan is a critical trait associated with contrasting root strategies of resource acquisition and protection. Yet, its position within the multidimensional "root economics space" synthesizing global root economics strategies is largely uncertain, and it is rarely represented in frameworks integrating plant trait variations. Here, we compiled the most comprehensive dataset of absorptive median root lifespan (MRL) data including 98 observations from 79 woody species using (mini-)rhizotrons across 40 sites and linked MRL to other plant traits to address questions of the regulators of MRL at large spatial scales.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTropical forest root characteristics and resource acquisition strategies are underrepresented in vegetation and global models, hampering the prediction of forest-climate feedbacks for these carbon-rich ecosystems. Lowland tropical forests often have globally unique combinations of high taxonomic and functional biodiversity, rainfall seasonality, and strongly weathered infertile soils, giving rise to distinct patterns in root traits and functions compared with higher latitude ecosystems. We provide a roadmap for integrating recent advances in our understanding of tropical forest belowground function into vegetation models, focusing on water and nutrient acquisition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFForest fungal communities are shaped by the interactions between host tree root systems and the associated soil conditions. We investigated how the soil environment, root morphological traits, and root chemistry influence root-inhabiting fungal communities in three tropical forest sites of varying successional status in Xishuangbanna, China. For 150 trees of 66 species, we measured root morphology and tissue chemistry.
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