“…Roots not only fix plants to soil, but also an important cycling interface of water and nutrients in terrestrial ecosystems, and relationships of root traits with soil water and nutrients can well reflect the specific adaptation and species ability to survive and settle in harsh environments (e.g., saline lands and deserts). In general, the availability of water and soil nutrients to plants in an ecosystem, where annual evaporation demand exceeds precipitation, depends on local climate, edaphic factors and on the depth, lateral spread and degree of overlap of plant root systems (Balogianni, Wilson, Vaness, MacDougall, & Pinno, 2014; Casper & Jackson, 1997; Henry, Cal, Batoto, Torres, & Serraj, 2012; Nadelhoffer & Raich, 1992; Schenk & Jackson, 2002; Schulze et al, 1996). Shallow root systems are the attributes of some desert plants, but desert and temperate coniferous forests have the deepest rooting profiles of terrestrial biomes (Canadell et al, 1996; Hasse et al, 1996).…”