10.5061/DRYAD.FK7BH24
Mueller, Kevin E.
0000-0002-0739-7472
Cleveland State University
LeCain, Daniel R.
United States Department of Agriculture
McCormack, M. Luke
University of Minnesota
Pendall, Elise
Western Sydney University
Carlson, Mary
United States Department of Agriculture
Blumenthal, Dana M.
United States Department of Agriculture
Data from: Root responses to elevated CO2, warming, and irrigation in a
semi-arid grassland: integrating biomass, length, and life span in a
5‐year field experiment
Dryad
dataset
2019
Minirhizotron
Carbon dioxide
Depth
standing root length
root biomass
mixed-grass prairie
FOS: Biological sciences
2019-04-05T00:00:00Z
2019-04-05T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12993
6293207 bytes
2
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Plant roots mediate the impacts of environmental change on ecosystems, yet
knowledge of root responses to environmental change is limited because few
experiments evaluate multiple environmental factors and their
interactions. Inferences about root functions are also limited because
root length dynamics are rarely measured. Using a five‐year experiment in
a mixed‐grass prairie, we report the responses of root biomass, length,
and lifespan to elevated carbon dioxide (CO2), warming, elevated CO2 and
warming combined, and irrigation. Root biomass was quantified using soil
cores and root length dynamics were assessed using minirhizotrons. By
comparing root dynamics with published results for soil resources and
aboveground productivity, we provide mechanistic insights into how climate
change might impact grassland ecosystems. In the upper soil layer, 0–15 cm
depth, both irrigation and elevated CO2 alone increased total root length
by two‐fold, but irrigation decreased root biomass and elevated CO2 had
only small positive effects on root biomass. The large positive effects of
irrigation and elevated CO2 alone on total root length were due to
increases in both root length production and root lifespan. The increased
total root length and lifespan under irrigation and elevated CO2 coincided
with apparent shifts from water‐limitation of plant growth to
nitrogen‐limitation. Warming alone had minimal effects on root biomass,
length, and lifespan in this shallow soil layer. Warming and elevated CO2
combined increased root biomass and total root length by ~25%, but total
root length in this treatment was lower than expected if the effects of
CO2 and warming alone were additive. Treatment effects on total root
length and root lifespan varied with soil depth and root diameter.
Synthesis. Sub‐additive effects of CO2 and warming suggest studies of
elevated CO2 alone might overestimate the future capacity of grassland
root systems to acquire resources. In this mixed‐grass prairie, elevated
CO2 with warming stimulated total root length and root lifespan in deeper
soils, likely enhancing plant access to more stable pools of
growth‐limiting resources, including water and phosphorus. Thus, these
root responses help explain previous observations of higher, and more
stable, aboveground productivity in these projected climate conditions.
individual_roots_lifespan_survivorship_length_diameter Data used for
analyses of root lifespan and survivorship
total_root_length_production_mortality Data used for analyses of total
'standing' root length, total root production, and total root
mortality
Wyoming
U.S.A.
North America