Effects of bedrock type and soil chemistry on the fine roots of European beech – A study on the belowground plasticity of trees

Kirfel, Kristina; Heinze, Stefanie; Hertel, Dietrich; Leuschner, Christoph

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2019.04.022

Cited by 32 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…In both root inventories, the association of FRB with edaphic and climatic variables suggests that topsoil FRB generally increases with organic matter content, but decreases with increasing nitrogen content, silt content and soil bulk density, while the effect of climatic factors (MAP, MAT) and also soil pH and P content is weak. This is in accordance with the observation that fine root density in temperate forest soils is usually highest in the carbon-rich Ah horizon and the organic layer with low bulk density [7,74].…”

Section: Fine Root Biomass and Belowground C Allocation In Dependencesupporting

confidence: 92%

Effects of Summer Drought on the Fine Root System of Five Broadleaf Tree Species along a Precipitation Gradient

Fuchs

Hertel

Schuldt

et al. 2020

Forests

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While much research has addressed the aboveground response of trees to climate warming and related water shortage, not much is known about the drought sensitivity of the fine root system, in particular of mature trees. This study investigates the response of topsoil (0–10 cm) fine root biomass (FRB), necromass (FRN), and fine root morphology of five temperate broadleaf tree species (Acer platanoides L., Carpinus betulus L., Fraxinus excelsior L., Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl., Tilia cordata Mill.) to a reduction in water availability, combining a precipitation gradient study (nine study sites; mean annual precipitation (MAP): 920–530 mm year−1) with the comparison of a moist period (average spring conditions) and an exceptionally dry period in the summer of the subsequent year. The extent of the root necromass/biomass (N/B) ratio increase was used as a measure of the species’ belowground sensitivity to water deficits. We hypothesized that the N/B ratio increases with long-term (precipitation gradient) and short-term reductions (moist vs. dry period) of water availability, while FRB changes only a little. In four of the five species (exception: A. platanoides), FRB did not change with a reduction in MAP, whereas FRN and N/B ratio increased toward the dry sites under ample water supply (exception: Q. petraea). Q. petraea was also the only species not to reduce root tip frequency after summer drought. Different slopes of the N/B ratio-MAP relation similarly point at a lower belowground drought sensitivity of Q. petraea than of the other species. After summer drought, all species lost the MAP dependence of the N/B ratio. Thus, fine root mortality increased more at the moister than the drier sites, suggesting a generally lower belowground drought sensitivity of the drier stands. We conclude that the five species differ in their belowground drought response. Q. petraea follows the most conservative soil exploration strategy with a generally smaller FRB and more drought-tolerant fine roots, as it maintains relatively constant FRB, FRN, and morphology across spatial and temporal dimensions of soil water deficits.

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Section: Fine Root Biomass and Belowground C Allocation In Dependencesupporting

confidence: 92%

Effects of Summer Drought on the Fine Root System of Five Broadleaf Tree Species along a Precipitation Gradient

Fuchs

Hertel

Schuldt

et al. 2020

Forests

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“…However, the vertical root morphology is influenced by site conditions and effective rooting depth depends on several factors such as annual precipitation, soil order, texture, and chemical conditions as well as tree species and their age (Strong and La Roi 1983), all of which were relatively similar across all study sites (Table 1). Further, trees on soils with greater profile depth can be expected to produce greater fine root biomass in the subsoil than trees on shallow soil profiles (Kirfel et al 2019). We therefore assume that tree roots at the deeply weathered sites MIT and CON would explore the subsoil to a greater extent than roots in BBR and VES and that d 18 O P values in the deeper subsoil thus have been partly influenced by the activity of tree roots.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies in agricultural cropping systems have reported that plants can cover between 10 and 80% of their P demand from subsoils depending on the extent of their root system (Kuhlmann and Baumgärtel 1991;Kautz et al 2013). Trees in temperate forests usually have much deeper rooting systems than most agricultural crops (Canadell et al 1996;Fan et al 2017), which may even reach into the saprolite and weathered bedrock below, although the amount of fine roots in the subsoil strongly depends on soil chemical properties (Strong and La Roi 1983) and profile depth (Kirfel et al 2019). P uptake via the fine roots of trees is promoted by symbiotic fungi (Plassard and Dell 2010) and, while specific information on the contribution of subsoil inhabiting fungi to tree P uptake are missing, it has been reported that fungal biomass in the rhizosphere of deep tree roots is several times higher than in the surrounding bulk subsoil (Maeght et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biogeochemical cycling of phosphorus in subsoils of temperate forest ecosystems

et al. 2020

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Tree roots penetrate the soil to several meters depth, but the role of subsoils for the supply of nutrient elements such as phosphorus (P) to the trees is poorly understood. Here, we tested the hypothesis that increased P deficiency in the topsoil results in an increased microbial recycling of P from the forest subsoil. We sampled soils from four German temperate forest sites representing a gradient in total P stocks. We analyzed the oxygen isotopic composition of HCl-extractable phosphate (δ18OP) and identified differences in P speciation with increasing soil depth using X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy. We further determined microbial oxygen demand with and without nutrient supply at different soil depths to analyse nutrient limitation of microbial growth and used nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS) to visualize spatial P gradients in the rhizosphere. We found that δ18OP values in the topsoil of all sites were close to the isotopic signal imparted by biological cycling when oxygen isotopes in phosphate are exchanged by enzymatic activity. However, with increasing soil depth and increasing HCl-P concentrations, δ18Ο values continuously decreased towards values expected for primary minerals in parent material at depths below 60 cm at sites with high subsoil P stocks and below more than 2 m at sites with low subsoil P stocks, respectively. For these depths, XANES spectra also indicated the presence of apatite. NanoSIMS images showed an enrichment of P in the rhizosphere in the topsoil of a site with high P stocks, while this P enrichment was absent at a site with low P stocks and in both subsoils. Addition of C, N and P alone or in combination revealed that microbial activity in subsoils of sites with low P stocks was mostly P limited, whereas sites with high P stocks indicated N limitation or N and P co-limitation. We conclude that subsoil P resources are recycled by trees and soil microorganisms. With continued weathering of the bedrock and mobilisation of P from the weathered rocks, P cycling will proceed to greater depths, especially at sites characterised by P limitation.

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“…An explanation could be a higher amount of particular organic matter (POM) compared to mineral associated organic matter (MOM) in the Deeper Subsoil of the Sand as a more easily degradable carbon source (Yakovchenko et al 1998). This is indicated by a higher content of fine roots for the subsoil of the Sand site compared to the topsoil, shown by Kirfel et al (2019) for samples from the same site. Despite this, stabilisation of SOC in acidic forest is mostly driven by poorly crystalline minerals (Kleber et al 2015;Mikutta et al 2006).…”

Section: Stability Of Topsoil and Subsoil Socmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…This site will be referred to as ''Loess'' and has a mean annual temperature of 8.5°C and an average annual precipitation of 733 mm. For further details about the three sites see Kirfel et al (2019). Selected soil properties are summarised in Table 1.…”

Section: Site Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fate and stability of dissolved organic carbon in topsoils and subsoils under beech forests

et al. 2020

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Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from Oa horizons has been proposed to be an important contributor for subsoil organic carbon stocks. We investigated the fate of DOC by directly injecting a DOC solution from 13 C labelled litter into three soil depths at beech forest sites. Fate of injected DOC was quantified with deep drilling soil cores down to 2 m depth, 3 and 17 months after the injection. 27 ± 26% of the injected DOC was retained after 3 months and 17 ± 22% after 17 months. Retained DOC was to 70% found in the first 10 cm below the injection depth and on average higher in the topsoil than in the subsoil. After 17 months DOC in the topsoil was largely lost (-19%) while DOC in the subsoil did not change much (-4.4%). Data indicated a high stabilisation of injected DOC in the subsoils with no differences between the sites. Potential mineralisation as revealed by incubation experiments however, was not different between DOC injected in topsoil or subsoils underlining the importance of environmental factors in the subsoil for DOC stabilisation compared to topsoil. We conclude that stability of DOC in subsoil is primary driven by its spatial inaccessibility for microorganisms after matrix flow while site specific properties did not significantly affect stabilisation. Instead, a more fine-textured site promotes the vertical transport of DOC due to a higher abundance of preferential flow paths.

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Effects of bedrock type and soil chemistry on the fine roots of European beech – A study on the belowground plasticity of trees

Cited by 32 publications

References 57 publications

Effects of Summer Drought on the Fine Root System of Five Broadleaf Tree Species along a Precipitation Gradient

Effects of Summer Drought on the Fine Root System of Five Broadleaf Tree Species along a Precipitation Gradient

Biogeochemical cycling of phosphorus in subsoils of temperate forest ecosystems

Fate and stability of dissolved organic carbon in topsoils and subsoils under beech forests

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