Accurate knowledge of the response of root turnover to a changing climate is needed to predict growth and produce carbon cycle models. A soil warming system and shading were used to vary soil temperature and received radiation independently in a temperate grassland dominated by Holcus lanatus L. Minirhizotrons allowed root growth and turnover to be examined non\uffe2\uff80\uff90destructively. In two short\uffe2\uff80\uff90term (8 week) experiments, root responses to temperature were seasonally distinct. Root number increased when heating was applied during spring, but root death increased during autumnal heating. An experiment lasting 12 months demonstrated that any positive response to temperature was short\uffe2\uff80\uff90lived and that over a full growing season, soil warming led to a reduction in root number and mass due to increased root death during autumn and winter. Root respiration was also insensitive to soil temperature over much of the year. In contrast, root growth was strongly affected by incident radiation. Root biomass, length, birth rate, number and turnover were all reduced by shading. Photosynthesis in H. lanatus exhibited some acclimation to shading, but assimilation rates at growth irradiance were still lower in shaded plants. The negative effects of shading and soil warming on roots were additive. Comparison of root data with environmental measurements demonstrated a number of positive relationships with photosynthetically active radiation, but not with soil temperature. This was true both across the entire data set and within a shade treatment. These results demonstrate that root growth is unlikely to be directly affected by increased soil temperatures as a result of global warming, at least in temperate areas, and that predictions of net primary productivity should not be based on a positive root growth response to temperature.
", "keywords": ["Plantago lanceolata Acclimation", "Root respiration", "belowground production", "soil temperature", "warming", "Belowground net primary production", "550", "Received photosynthetically active radiation", "Root turnover", "Plantago lanceolata", "photosynthetically active radiation", "Plantago", "580", "2. Zero hunger", "Root demography", "Temperature", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "Minirhizotrons", "Keywords: acclimation", "climate change", "Holcus lanatus", "13. Climate action", "Lanceolata", "Soil warming", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "root system", "grassland", "shading", "respiration"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/495/1/fitterah10.pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2004.00729.x"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Global%20Change%20Biology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/j.1365-2486.2004.00729.x", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/j.1365-2486.2004.00729.x", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2004.00729.x"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2004-01-26T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/j.1365-2486.2004.00737.x", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:18:40Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2004-12-24", "title": "Simulated Chronic No3\u2212Deposition Reduces Soil Respiration In Northern Hardwood Forests", "description": "AbstractChronic N additions to forest ecosystems can enhance soil N availability, potentially leading to reduced C allocation to root systems. This in turn could decrease soil CO2 efflux. We measured soil respiration during the first, fifth, sixth and eighth years of simulated atmospheric NO3\uffe2\uff88\uff92 deposition (3\uffe2\uff80\uff83g\uffe2\uff80\uff83N\uffe2\uff80\uff83m\uffe2\uff88\uff922\uffe2\uff80\uff83yr\uffe2\uff88\uff921) to four sugar maple\uffe2\uff80\uff90dominated northern hardwood forests in Michigan to assess these possibilities. During the first year, soil respiration rates were slightly, but not significantly, higher in the NO3\uffe2\uff88\uff92\uffe2\uff80\uff90amended plots. In all subsequent measurement years, soil respiration rates from NO3\uffe2\uff88\uff92\uffe2\uff80\uff90amended soils were significantly depressed. Soil temperature and soil matric potential were measured concurrently with soil respiration and used to develop regression relationships for predicting soil respiration rates. Estimates of growing season and annual soil CO2 efflux made using these relationships indicate that these C fluxes were depressed by 15% in the eighth year of chronic NO3\uffe2\uff88\uff92 additions. The decrease in soil respiration was not due to reduced C allocation to roots, as root respiration rates, root biomass, and root turnover were not significantly affected by N additions. Aboveground litter also was unchanged by the 8 years of treatment. Of the remaining potential causes for the decline in soil CO2 efflux, reduced microbial respiration appears to be the most likely possibility. Documented reductions in microbial biomass and the activities of extracellular enzymes used for litter degradation on the NO3\uffe2\uff88\uff92\uffe2\uff80\uff90amended plots are consistent with this explanation.
", "keywords": ["Nitrogen Fertilization", "Soil CO 2 Efflux", "Geology and Earth Sciences", "Science", "Atmospheric Nitrate Deposition", "Ecology and Evolutionary Biology", "Root Respiration", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Temperature and Moisture Effects", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "Root Biomass"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2004.00737.x"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Global%20Change%20Biology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/j.1365-2486.2004.00737.x", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/j.1365-2486.2004.00737.x", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2004.00737.x"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2004-05-07T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1093/jxb/erad014", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:18:13Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2023-01-11", "title": "Responses of key root traits in the genusOryzato soil flooding mimicked by stagnant, deoxygenated nutrient solution", "description": "AbstractExcess water can induce flooding stress resulting in yield loss, even in wetland crops such as rice (Oryza). However, traits from species of wild Oryza have already been used to improve tolerance to abiotic stress in cultivated rice. This study aimed to establish root responses to sudden soil flooding among eight wild relatives of rice with different habitat preferences benchmarked against three genotypes of O. sativa. Plants were raised hydroponically, mimicking drained or flooded soils, to assess the plasticity of adventitious roots. Traits included were apparent permeance (PA) to O2 of the outer part of the roots, radial water loss, tissue porosity, apoplastic barriers in the exodermis, and root anatomical traits. These were analysed using a plasticity index and hierarchical clustering based on principal component analysis. For example, O. brachyantha, a wetland species, possessed very low tissue porosity compared with other wetland species, whereas dryland species O. latifolia and O. granulata exhibited significantly lower plasticity compared with wetland species and clustered in their own group. Most species clustered according to growing conditions based on PA, radial water loss, root porosity, and key anatomical traits, indicating strong anatomical and physiological responses to sudden soil flooding.
Drought periods are projected to become more severe and more frequent in many European regions. While effects of single strong droughts on plant and microbial carbon (C) dynamics have been studied in some detail, impacts of recurrent drought events are still little understood.
We tested whether the legacy of extreme experimental drought affects responses of plant and microbial C and nitrogen (N) turnover to further drought and rewetting. In a mountain grassland, we conducted a 13C pulse\uffe2\uff80\uff90chase experiment during a naturally occurring drought and rewetting event in plots previously exposed to experimental droughts and in ambient controls (AC). After labelling, we traced 13C below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground allocation and incorporation into soil microbes using phospholipid fatty acid biomarkers.
Drought history (DH) had no effects on the standing shoot and fine root plant biomass. However, plants with experimental DH displayed decreased shoot N concentrations and increased fine root N concentrations relative to those in AC. During the natural drought, plants with DH assimilated and allocated less 13C below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground; moreover, fine root respiration was reduced and not fuelled by fresh C compared to plants in AC.
Regardless of DH, microbial biomass remained stable during natural drought and rewetting. Although microbial communities initially differed in their composition between soils with and without DH, they responded to the natural drought and rewetting in a similar way: gram\uffe2\uff80\uff90positive bacteria increased, while fungal and gram\uffe2\uff80\uff90negative bacteria remained stable. In soils with DH, a strongly reduced uptake of recent plant\uffe2\uff80\uff90derived 13C in microbial biomarkers was observed during the natural drought, pointing to a smaller fraction of active microbes or to a microbial community that is less dependent on plant C.
Synthesis. Drought history can induce changes in above\uffe2\uff80\uff90 vs. below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground plant N concentrations and affect the response of plant C turnover to further droughts and rewetting by decreasing plant C uptake and below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground allocation. DH does not affect the responses of the microbial community to further droughts and rewetting, but alters microbial functioning, particularly the turnover of recent plant\uffe2\uff80\uff90derived carbon, during and after further drought periods.
", "keywords": ["0301 basic medicine", "plant-soil (below-ground) interactions", "NITROGEN TURNOVER", "Biomass Allocation", "microbial community composition", "Negibacteria", "drought", "phospholipid fatty acid", "nitrogen", "Microbial community composition", "Plant\u2013Soil (Below\u2010ground) Interactions", "Recovery", "ROOT RESPIRATION", "Plant-soil (below-ground) interactions", "CLIMATE EXTREMES", "C pulse labelling", "Below-ground carbon allocation", "2. Zero hunger", "106022 Mikrobiologie", "0303 health sciences", "SOIL INTERACTIONS", "below-ground carbon allocation", "C-13 pulse labelling", "Grassland", "6. Clean water", "Europe", "Phospholipid", "ORGANIC-MATTER", "Mountain Region", "Posibacteria", "DIOXIDE PULSES", "Phospholipid fatty acid", "106022 Microbiology", "Root/shoot Ratio", "Belowground Biomass", "Ecosystem Resilience", "Nitrogen", "Microbial Community", "Carbon Isotope", "Soil-vegetation Interaction", "recovery", "SUMMER DROUGHT", "03 medical and health sciences", "Rewetting", "Community Composition", "plant\u2013soil (below-ground) interactions", "WATER-STRESS", "resilience", "Drought", "Resilience", "RESILIENCE", "15. Life on land", "Turnover", "Microbial Activity", "13. Climate action", "Fatty Acid", "RESPONSES"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12593"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Journal%20of%20Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1365-2745.12593", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1365-2745.12593", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1365-2745.12593"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2016-05-24T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "11390/1246806", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:24:57Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2023-01-11", "title": "Responses of key root traits in the genusOryzato soil flooding mimicked by stagnant, deoxygenated nutrient solution", "description": "AbstractExcess water can induce flooding stress resulting in yield loss, even in wetland crops such as rice (Oryza). However, traits from species of wild Oryza have already been used to improve tolerance to abiotic stress in cultivated rice. This study aimed to establish root responses to sudden soil flooding among eight wild relatives of rice with different habitat preferences benchmarked against three genotypes of O. sativa. Plants were raised hydroponically, mimicking drained or flooded soils, to assess the plasticity of adventitious roots. Traits included were apparent permeance (PA) to O2 of the outer part of the roots, radial water loss, tissue porosity, apoplastic barriers in the exodermis, and root anatomical traits. These were analysed using a plasticity index and hierarchical clustering based on principal component analysis. For example, O. brachyantha, a wetland species, possessed very low tissue porosity compared with other wetland species, whereas dryland species O. latifolia and O. granulata exhibited significantly lower plasticity compared with wetland species and clustered in their own group. Most species clustered according to growing conditions based on PA, radial water loss, root porosity, and key anatomical traits, indicating strong anatomical and physiological responses to sudden soil flooding.