Impacts of Arctic Shrubs on Root Traits and Belowground Nutrient Cycles Across a Northern Alaskan Climate Gradient
Deciduous shrubs are expanding across the graminoid-dominated nutrient-poor arctic tundra. Absorptive root traits of shrubs are key determinants of nutrient acquisition strategy from tundra soils, but the variations of shrub root traits within and among common shrub genera across the arctic climatic...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:7758488 2023-05-15T14:41:22+02:00 Impacts of Arctic Shrubs on Root Traits and Belowground Nutrient Cycles Across a Northern Alaskan Climate Gradient Chen, Weile Tape, Ken D. Euskirchen, Eugénie S. Liang, Shuang Matos, Adriano Greenberg, Jonathan Fraterrigo, Jennifer M. 2020-12-11 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7758488/ https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.588098 en eng Frontiers Media S.A. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7758488/ http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.588098 Copyright © 2020 Chen, Tape, Euskirchen, Liang, Matos, Greenberg and Fraterrigo. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. CC-BY Front Plant Sci Plant Science Text 2020 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.588098 2020-12-27T01:45:59Z Deciduous shrubs are expanding across the graminoid-dominated nutrient-poor arctic tundra. Absorptive root traits of shrubs are key determinants of nutrient acquisition strategy from tundra soils, but the variations of shrub root traits within and among common shrub genera across the arctic climatic gradient are not well resolved. Consequently, the impacts of arctic shrub expansion on belowground nutrient cycling remain largely unclear. Here, we collected roots from 170 plots of three commonly distributed shrub genera (Alnus, Betula, and Salix) and a widespread sedge (Eriophorum vaginatum) along a climatic gradient in northern Alaska. Absorptive root traits that are relevant to the strategy of plant nutrient acquisition were determined. The influence of aboveground dominant vegetation cover on the standing root biomass, root productivity, vertical rooting profile, as well as the soil nitrogen (N) pool in the active soil layer was examined. We found consistent root trait variation among arctic plant genera along the sampling transect. Alnus and Betula had relatively thicker and less branched, but more frequently ectomycorrhizal colonized absorptive roots than Salix, suggesting complementarity between root efficiency and ectomycorrhizal dependence among the co-existing shrubs. Shrub-dominated plots tended to have more productive absorptive roots than sedge-dominated plots. At the northern sites, deep absorptive roots (>20 cm depth) were more frequent in birch-dominated plots. We also found shrub roots extensively proliferated into the adjacent sedge-dominated plots. The soil N pool in the active layer generally decreased from south to north but did not vary among plots dominated by different shrub or sedge genera. Our results reveal diverse nutrient acquisition strategies and belowground impacts among different arctic shrubs, suggesting that further identifying the specific shrub genera in the tundra landscape will ultimately provide better predictions of belowground dynamics across the changing arctic. Text Arctic Eriophorum Tundra Alaska PubMed Central (PMC) Arctic Frontiers in Plant Science 11 |
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PubMed Central (PMC) |
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English |
topic |
Plant Science |
spellingShingle |
Plant Science Chen, Weile Tape, Ken D. Euskirchen, Eugénie S. Liang, Shuang Matos, Adriano Greenberg, Jonathan Fraterrigo, Jennifer M. Impacts of Arctic Shrubs on Root Traits and Belowground Nutrient Cycles Across a Northern Alaskan Climate Gradient |
topic_facet |
Plant Science |
description |
Deciduous shrubs are expanding across the graminoid-dominated nutrient-poor arctic tundra. Absorptive root traits of shrubs are key determinants of nutrient acquisition strategy from tundra soils, but the variations of shrub root traits within and among common shrub genera across the arctic climatic gradient are not well resolved. Consequently, the impacts of arctic shrub expansion on belowground nutrient cycling remain largely unclear. Here, we collected roots from 170 plots of three commonly distributed shrub genera (Alnus, Betula, and Salix) and a widespread sedge (Eriophorum vaginatum) along a climatic gradient in northern Alaska. Absorptive root traits that are relevant to the strategy of plant nutrient acquisition were determined. The influence of aboveground dominant vegetation cover on the standing root biomass, root productivity, vertical rooting profile, as well as the soil nitrogen (N) pool in the active soil layer was examined. We found consistent root trait variation among arctic plant genera along the sampling transect. Alnus and Betula had relatively thicker and less branched, but more frequently ectomycorrhizal colonized absorptive roots than Salix, suggesting complementarity between root efficiency and ectomycorrhizal dependence among the co-existing shrubs. Shrub-dominated plots tended to have more productive absorptive roots than sedge-dominated plots. At the northern sites, deep absorptive roots (>20 cm depth) were more frequent in birch-dominated plots. We also found shrub roots extensively proliferated into the adjacent sedge-dominated plots. The soil N pool in the active layer generally decreased from south to north but did not vary among plots dominated by different shrub or sedge genera. Our results reveal diverse nutrient acquisition strategies and belowground impacts among different arctic shrubs, suggesting that further identifying the specific shrub genera in the tundra landscape will ultimately provide better predictions of belowground dynamics across the changing arctic. |
format |
Text |
author |
Chen, Weile Tape, Ken D. Euskirchen, Eugénie S. Liang, Shuang Matos, Adriano Greenberg, Jonathan Fraterrigo, Jennifer M. |
author_facet |
Chen, Weile Tape, Ken D. Euskirchen, Eugénie S. Liang, Shuang Matos, Adriano Greenberg, Jonathan Fraterrigo, Jennifer M. |
author_sort |
Chen, Weile |
title |
Impacts of Arctic Shrubs on Root Traits and Belowground Nutrient Cycles Across a Northern Alaskan Climate Gradient |
title_short |
Impacts of Arctic Shrubs on Root Traits and Belowground Nutrient Cycles Across a Northern Alaskan Climate Gradient |
title_full |
Impacts of Arctic Shrubs on Root Traits and Belowground Nutrient Cycles Across a Northern Alaskan Climate Gradient |
title_fullStr |
Impacts of Arctic Shrubs on Root Traits and Belowground Nutrient Cycles Across a Northern Alaskan Climate Gradient |
title_full_unstemmed |
Impacts of Arctic Shrubs on Root Traits and Belowground Nutrient Cycles Across a Northern Alaskan Climate Gradient |
title_sort |
impacts of arctic shrubs on root traits and belowground nutrient cycles across a northern alaskan climate gradient |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7758488/ https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.588098 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Eriophorum Tundra Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Eriophorum Tundra Alaska |
op_source |
Front Plant Sci |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7758488/ http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.588098 |
op_rights |
Copyright © 2020 Chen, Tape, Euskirchen, Liang, Matos, Greenberg and Fraterrigo. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.588098 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Plant Science |
container_volume |
11 |
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1766313157499813888 |