title: Building a better foundation: improving root-trait measurements to understand and model plant and ecosystem processes.
abstract: Trait-based approaches provide a useful framework to investigate plant strategies for resource acquisition, growth, and competition, as well as plant impacts on ecosystem processes. Despite significant progress capturing trait variation within and among stems and leaves, identification of trait syndromes within fine-root systems and between fine roots and other plant organs is limited. Here we discuss three underappreciated areas where focused measurements of fine-root traits can make significant contributions to ecosystem science. These include assessment of spatiotemporal variation in fine-root traits, integration of mycorrhizal fungi into fine-root-trait frameworks, and the need for improved scaling of traits measured on individual roots to ecosystem-level processes. Progress in each of these areas is providing opportunities to revisit how below-ground processes are represented in terrestrial biosphere models. Targeted measurements of fine-root traits with clear linkages to ecosystem processes and plant responses to environmental change are strongly needed to reduce empirical and model uncertainties. Further identifying how and when suites of root and whole-plant traits are coordinated or decoupled will ultimately provide a powerful tool for modeling plant form and function at local and global scales.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN, 55108, USA.
authors.forename: M Luke
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: McCormack
authors.affiliation: Center of Forest Ecosystem Studies and Qianyanzhou Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
authors.forename: Dali
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Climate Change Science Institute and Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA.
authors.forename: Colleen M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Iversen
authors.affiliation: Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Weile
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.|Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Eissenstat
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN, 55108, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher W
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6310-6027
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Fernandez
authors.affiliation: Center of Forest Ecosystem Studies and Qianyanzhou Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.|University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
authors.forename: Le
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Center of Forest Ecosystem Studies and Qianyanzhou Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.|University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
authors.forename: Chengen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Center of Forest Ecosystem Studies and Qianyanzhou Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
authors.forename: Zeqing
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Plant Sciences (IBG-2), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, D-52425, Germany.
authors.forename: Hendrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Poorter
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN, 55108, USA.|Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia.
authors.forename: Peter B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Reich
authors.affiliation: Institute of Dendrology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Parkowa 5, Kórnik, 62-035, Poland.
authors.forename: Marcin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zadworny
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, USA.
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zanne
mesh_terms: D001901:Botany / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D017753:Ecosystem; D008954:Models, Biological; D038821:Mycorrhizae; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: below ground; ecological modeling; nutrient acquisition; plant functional traits; root economics spectrum (RES); trait syndromes