Vertical root distribution and biomass allocation along proglacial chronosequences in Central Switzerland
Investigating changes in belowground functional plant traits is an important step toward a better understanding of vegetation dynamics during primary succession. However, in alpine glacier forelands, we still lack an accurate assessment of plant rooting patterns. In this study, we established two pr...
Published in: | Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research |
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ftgfzpotsdam:oai:gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de:item_5005907 2023-05-15T14:14:27+02:00 Vertical root distribution and biomass allocation along proglacial chronosequences in Central Switzerland Greinwald, K. Dieckmann, L. Schipplick, C. Hartmann, A. Scherer-Lorenzen, M. Gebauer, T. 2021 application/pdf https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5005907 https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5005907_1/component/file_5005916/5005907.pdf unknown info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1080/15230430.2020.1859720 https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5005907 https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5005907_1/component/file_5005916/5005907.pdf info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2021 ftgfzpotsdam https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2020.1859720 2022-09-14T05:57:59Z Investigating changes in belowground functional plant traits is an important step toward a better understanding of vegetation dynamics during primary succession. However, in alpine glacier forelands, we still lack an accurate assessment of plant rooting patterns. In this study, we established two proglacial chronosequences with contrasting bedrocks to investigate changes in rooting patterns and biomass allocation with terrain age. We extracted soil cores up to 1 m depth and measured root traits every 10 cm of each drilled core. Furthermore, we sampled aboveground biomass determining the contributions of functional groups to total aboveground biomass. We found that root traits associated with the root economics spectrum varied significantly along the chronosequences. Vertical root distribution coefficients revealed that early successional communities had more evenly distributed root systems compared to late successional communities. Biomass allocation showed diverging patterns. We found evidence for both the isometric allocation and optimal partitioning hypotheses. In addition, we observed a significant correlation between rooting parameters and plant community composition, suggesting that the dominance of distinct plant functional groups was one important factor explaining the observed rooting patterns. Our results shed light on the often neglected belowground compartments during plant succession and contribute to a better understanding of hillslope functioning. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarctic and Alpine Research Arctic GFZpublic (German Research Centre for Geosciences, Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam) Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 53 1 20 34 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
GFZpublic (German Research Centre for Geosciences, Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam) |
op_collection_id |
ftgfzpotsdam |
language |
unknown |
description |
Investigating changes in belowground functional plant traits is an important step toward a better understanding of vegetation dynamics during primary succession. However, in alpine glacier forelands, we still lack an accurate assessment of plant rooting patterns. In this study, we established two proglacial chronosequences with contrasting bedrocks to investigate changes in rooting patterns and biomass allocation with terrain age. We extracted soil cores up to 1 m depth and measured root traits every 10 cm of each drilled core. Furthermore, we sampled aboveground biomass determining the contributions of functional groups to total aboveground biomass. We found that root traits associated with the root economics spectrum varied significantly along the chronosequences. Vertical root distribution coefficients revealed that early successional communities had more evenly distributed root systems compared to late successional communities. Biomass allocation showed diverging patterns. We found evidence for both the isometric allocation and optimal partitioning hypotheses. In addition, we observed a significant correlation between rooting parameters and plant community composition, suggesting that the dominance of distinct plant functional groups was one important factor explaining the observed rooting patterns. Our results shed light on the often neglected belowground compartments during plant succession and contribute to a better understanding of hillslope functioning. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Greinwald, K. Dieckmann, L. Schipplick, C. Hartmann, A. Scherer-Lorenzen, M. Gebauer, T. |
spellingShingle |
Greinwald, K. Dieckmann, L. Schipplick, C. Hartmann, A. Scherer-Lorenzen, M. Gebauer, T. Vertical root distribution and biomass allocation along proglacial chronosequences in Central Switzerland |
author_facet |
Greinwald, K. Dieckmann, L. Schipplick, C. Hartmann, A. Scherer-Lorenzen, M. Gebauer, T. |
author_sort |
Greinwald, K. |
title |
Vertical root distribution and biomass allocation along proglacial chronosequences in Central Switzerland |
title_short |
Vertical root distribution and biomass allocation along proglacial chronosequences in Central Switzerland |
title_full |
Vertical root distribution and biomass allocation along proglacial chronosequences in Central Switzerland |
title_fullStr |
Vertical root distribution and biomass allocation along proglacial chronosequences in Central Switzerland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Vertical root distribution and biomass allocation along proglacial chronosequences in Central Switzerland |
title_sort |
vertical root distribution and biomass allocation along proglacial chronosequences in central switzerland |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5005907 https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5005907_1/component/file_5005916/5005907.pdf |
genre |
Antarctic and Alpine Research Arctic |
genre_facet |
Antarctic and Alpine Research Arctic |
op_source |
Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1080/15230430.2020.1859720 https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5005907 https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5005907_1/component/file_5005916/5005907.pdf |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2020.1859720 |
container_title |
Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research |
container_volume |
53 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
20 |
op_container_end_page |
34 |
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1766286899195936768 |