Forest management researcher group from the College of Forestry made new achievement in root traits as predictors of ecosystem functioning, and the research result with the title of "Are absorptive root traits good predictors of ecosystem functioning? A test in a natural temperate forest” was published in International renowned academic journal New Phytologist (Q1, IF=10.323).

Explained variation of leaf traits, root traits, environmental conditions, and their interaction with the (a) aboveground carbon storage (AGC) and (b) relative aboveground woody biomass productivity (RAWP)

Explained variation and relative effect of each environmental factor on the dimensions of community-level leaf and root traits

Principal components analyses (PCA) of community-level (a) leaf traits, (b) absorptive root traits, and (c) whole set of traits

Trait-based approaches provide a useful framework to predict ecosystem functions under intensifying global change. However, current understanding of trait-functioning relationships mainly relies on aboveground traits. Belowground traits (e.g. absorptive root traits) are rarely studied although these traits are related to important plant functions.

Four pairs of analogous leaf and absorptive root traits of woody plants were analyzed in a temperate forest and examined how these traits are coordinated at the community-level, and to what extent the trait covariation depends on local-scale environmental conditions. Then the contributions of leaf and absorptive root traits and the environmental conditions in determining two important forest ecosystem functions, aboveground carbon storage, and woody biomass productivity were quantified .

The results showed that both morphological trait pairs and chemical trait pairs exhibited positive correlations at the community level. Absorptive root traits show a strong response to environmental conditions compared to leaf traits. It's also found that absorptive root traits were better predictors of the two forest ecosystem functions than leaf traits and environmental conditions.

The study confirms the important role of belowground traits in modulating ecosystem functions and deepens our understanding of belowground responses to changing environmental conditions.

　　

The first author of the article is PhD student Lin Senxuan from the College of Forestry. Professor Zhang Chunyu and Zhao Haixiu are corresponding authors. Lecturer Fan Chunyu and Prof. Klaus von Gadow from the University of Göttingen, Germany, also contrituted to the research.

This study was supported by the Key Project of National Key Research and Development Plan (2022YFD2201003), and Beijing Forestry University Outstanding Young Talent Cultivation Project (2019JQ03001).

Paper link: https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.18915