Fine root dynamics across pantropical rainforest ecosystems

Huaraca Huasco W 1 , Riutta T 1 , Girardin CAJ 1 , Hancco Pacha F 2 , Puma Vilca BL 2 , Moore S 1 Show all authors , Rifai SW 3 , Del Aguila-Pasquel J 4 , Araujo Murakami A 5 , Freitag R 6 , Morel AC 7 , Demissie S 8 , Doughty CE 9 , Oliveras I 1 , Galiano Cabrera DF 2 , Durand Baca L 10 , Farfán Amézquita F 2 , Silva Espejo JE 11 , da Costa ACL 12 , Oblitas Mendoza E 13 , Quesada CA 13 , Evouna Ondo F 14 , Edzang Ndong J 14 , Jeffery KJ 15 , Mihindou V 16 , White LJT 16 , N'ssi Bengone N 16 , Ibrahim F 17 , Addo-Danso SD 17 , Duah-Gyamfi A 17 , Djaney Djagbletey G 17 , Owusu-Afriyie K 17 , Amissah L 17 , Mbou AT 18 , Marthews TR 19 , Metcalfe DB 20 , Aragão LEO 21 , Marimon-Junior BH 6 , Marimon BS 6 , Majalap N 22 , Adu-Bredu S 17 , Abernethy KA 15 , Silman M 23 , Ewers RM 24 , Meir P 25 , Malhi Y 1

Affiliations 

  • 1 Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
  • 2 Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco, Cusco, Perú
  • 3 ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  • 4 Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana (IIAP), Iquitos, Perú
  • 5 Museo de Historia Natural Noel Kempff Mercado Universidad Autónoma Gabriel Rene Moreno, Santa Cruz, Bolivia
  • 6 Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Conservação, Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso, Nova Xavantina, MT, Brazil
  • 7 Department of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK
  • 8 Environment and Coffee Forest Forum, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
  • 9 School of Informatics, Computing and Cyber systems, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA
  • 10 Universidad Nacional Federico Villarreal de Lima, Lima, Perú
  • 11 Departamento de Biología, Universidad de La Serena, La Serena, Chile
  • 12 Instituto de Geosciências, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Brazil
  • 13 Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, Brazil
  • 14 Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux, Libreville, Gabon
  • 15 Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK
  • 16 Ministère de la Foret, de la Mer, de l'Environnement, Chargé Du Plan Climat, Libreville, Gabon
  • 17 Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, University, Kumasi, Ghana
  • 18 Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici, Leece, Italy
  • 19 UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), Wallingford, UK
  • 20 Department of Ecology and Environment Science, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
  • 21 Divisão de Sensoriamento Remoto-DIDSR, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, São Jose dos Campos, SP, Brazil
  • 22 Sabah Forestry Department, Forest Research Centre, Sabah, Malaysia
  • 23 Department of Biology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
  • 24 Department of Life Science, Imperial College London, Ascot, UK
  • 25 Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
Glob Chang Biol, 2021 08;27(15):3657-3680.
PMID: 33982340 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15677

Abstract

Fine roots constitute a significant component of the net primary productivity (NPP) of forest ecosystems but are much less studied than aboveground NPP. Comparisons across sites and regions are also hampered by inconsistent methodologies, especially in tropical areas. Here, we present a novel dataset of fine root biomass, productivity, residence time, and allocation in tropical old-growth rainforest sites worldwide, measured using consistent methods, and examine how these variables are related to consistently determined soil and climatic characteristics. Our pantropical dataset spans intensive monitoring plots in lowland (wet, semi-deciduous, and deciduous) and montane tropical forests in South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia (n = 47). Large spatial variation in fine root dynamics was observed across montane and lowland forest types. In lowland forests, we found a strong positive linear relationship between fine root productivity and sand content, this relationship was even stronger when we considered the fractional allocation of total NPP to fine roots, demonstrating that understanding allocation adds explanatory power to understanding fine root productivity and total NPP. Fine root residence time was a function of multiple factors: soil sand content, soil pH, and maximum water deficit, with longest residence times in acidic, sandy, and water-stressed soils. In tropical montane forests, on the other hand, a different set of relationships prevailed, highlighting the very different nature of montane and lowland forest biomes. Root productivity was a strong positive linear function of mean annual temperature, root residence time was a strong positive function of soil nitrogen content in montane forests, and lastly decreasing soil P content increased allocation of productivity to fine roots. In contrast to the lowlands, environmental conditions were a better predictor for fine root productivity than for fractional allocation of total NPP to fine roots, suggesting that root productivity is a particularly strong driver of NPP allocation in tropical mountain regions.

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