Root exudation in a sloping Moso bamboo forest in relation to fine root biomass and traits

PLoS One. 2022 Mar 24;17(3):e0266131. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266131. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

Exudation by fine roots generally varies with their morphological traits, but the effect of belowground resource availability on the root exudation via root morphological traits and biomass remains unknown. We aimed to determine the effects of morphological and physiological traits on root exudation rates and to estimate stand-scale exudation (Estand) by measuring the mass, length, and surface area of fine roots in a Moso bamboo forest. We measured root exudation as well as morphological and physiological traits in upper and lower plots on a slope with different belowground resource availability. The mean (± S.D.) root exudation rates per mass in the upper and lower slope were 0.049 ± 0.047 and 0.040 ± 0.059 mg C g-1 h-1, respectively, which were in the range of exudation found in woody forest ecosystems. We observed significant relationships between root exudation per mass and root respiration, as well as specific root length and surface area. In contrast, exudation per length and area did not correlate with morphological traits. The morphological traits did not differ between slope positions, resulting in no significant difference in root exudation per mass. Fine root biomass, length, and surface area on a unit ground basis were much higher in the lower than those in the upper slope positions. Estand was higher when estimated by mass than by length and area because the morphological effect on exudation was ignored when scaled using mass. Estand was 1.4-2.0-fold higher in the lower than that in upper slope positions, suggesting that the scaling parameters of mass, length, and area determined the Estand estimate more than the exudation rate per mass, length, and area. Regardless of scaling, Estand was much higher in the Moso bamboo forest than in other forest ecosystems because of a large fine-root biomass.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biomass
  • Ecosystem*
  • Forests
  • Plant Roots* / physiology
  • Poaceae
  • Soil

Substances

  • Soil

Grants and funding

The major funding for this research came from JSPS KAKENHI Grants (No. 19H02996, Tomonori Kume and No. 15K07467, Ayumi Katayama) to Kyushu University. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.