Root inclusion net method: novel approach to determine fine root production and turnover in Larix principis-rupprechtii Mayr plantation in North China

Regeneration of Belowground Properties and Nutrient Pools in Soil after Compaction: Response to the Reforestation with Native Tree Species in the Hyrcanian Forest

“…Results of the current study showed that the greatest fine root biomass was found under the FE and PA plantations, but these values were still lower than those of fine root biomass under the CB-PP stand. In line with the current study, Wang et al [55] concluded that fine root biomass was significantly different between natural stand and plantations. Similarly, Jourgholami et al [9] indicated that the significantly greater fine root biomass was found under the Caucasian alder in comparison with other tree species.…”

Comparison of ingrowth cores and ingrowth meshes in root studies: 3 years of data on Pinus pinaster and its understory

“…Since several independent studies pointed to comparable results for fine roots between both methods and since these studies used smaller mesh dimensions (5-10 cm length) and mesh sizes (1-4 mm 2 ), together with the suggestion to use rigid material (Hirano et al 2009), we would be in favour, for other research, to test such conditions (i.e., small rigid meshes) rather than those we used here. Optimization at installation by developing and using dedicated tools (Hirano et al 2009;Wang et al 2014) may also be an option to consider, but this may go against the suggested advantage of the method that it does not need any specialized tools (Lukac and Godbold 2010) such as root augers. Using small rigid meshes with a smaller mesh size presumably does not permit to study the production of small or medium roots, which was one of our objectives; unless perhaps a sufficient number of such small meshes would be deployed.…”

“…Lukac and Godbold (2010) used meshes and ingrowth cores at three taiga sites in Russia and overall the meshes had slightly, but non-significantly, higher root production values than the ingrowth cores. Finally, Wang et al (2014) reported fine root production values for the mesh method that were inferior by less than 10 % to the values derived from ingrowth cores for 13-38 year-old Larix principis-rupprechtti stands in China. Hirano et al (2009) evaluated the time needed for Trees (2016) 30:555-570 567 installation of meshes and ingrowth cores, underlining for their conditions that the meshes were superior to the cores, but no roots were actually involved in that methodological approach.…”

“…The longer the mesh is, the larger the chance of disturbance of the mesh, and the greater the disturbance of roots within this medium. The studies reporting on ingrowth meshes described dimensions of 5 cm length and down to 30 cm depth for northern hardwood forests in the USA (Fahey and Hughes 1994), 5 cm length and 10 cm deep for Picea abies L. forests in Germany (Jentschke et al 2001;Godbold et al 2003), 10 cm length and 20 cm deep for Fagus sylvatica L. forests in Italy (Montagnoli et al 2007), 10 cm length and 20 cm deep in a methodological approach in Japan (Hirano et al 2009), 10 cm length and 25 cm deep in Picea abies L. stands with different mixtures of deciduous species in Russia (Lukac and Godbold 2010) and 10 cm length and 30 cm deep in Larix principis-rupprechtti Mayr in China (Wang et al 2014). Mesh pore sizes used in these studies were 1 9 1 mm, except for Montagnoli et al 2007 (2 9 2 mm) and Fahey and Hughes 1994 (2.9 mm 2 ).…”

Fine root dynamic characteristics and effect on plantation’s carbon sequestration of three Salix shrub plantations in Tibetan Plateau alpine sandy land

“…Some studies had showed that fine root production had different vertical distribution patterns in different soil profiles due to heterogeneity of soil nutrients and water, however, the root distribution patterns had showed certain similarities under the same site conditions (Wang et al., 2014). In our study, fine root turnover rates of them were S. psammophila (0.90 yr −1 ), S. microstachya (0.83 yr −1 ) and S. cheilophila (0.63 yr −1 ), respectively (Figure 6), which were within the thresholds of the study of the turnover rate of fine roots in global vegetation (Jackson et al., 1997).…”