skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: A global Fine-Root Ecology Database to address below-ground challenges in plant ecology

Journal Article · · New Phytologist
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.14486· OSTI ID:1362203
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [8];  [6]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Climate Change Science Inst. and Environmental Sciences Division
  2. Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States). Dept. of Plant and Microbial Biology
  3. Kent State Univ., Kent, OH (United States). Dept. of Biological Sciences
  4. Univ. of Montpellier and Paul Valary Univ. (France). Center for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology (CEFE)
  5. Max Planck Society, Jena (Germany). Max Planck Inst. for Biogeochemistry; German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Leipzig (Germany)
  6. Univ. of Montpellier and Paul Valéry Univ. (France). Center for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology (CEFE)
  7. U.S. Dept. of Energy, Washington, DC (United States). Office of Biological and Environmental Research
  8. Leiden Univ. (Netherlands). Inst. of Environmental Sciences
  9. Kent State Univ., Kent, OH (United States). Dept. of Biological Sciences; Florida Intl Univ., Miami, FL (United States). International Center of Tropical Botany
+ Show Author Affiliations

Summary Variation and tradeoffs within and among plant traits are increasingly being harnessed by empiricists and modelers to understand and predict ecosystem processes under changing environmental conditions. While fine roots play an important role in ecosystem functioning, fine‐root traits are underrepresented in global trait databases. This has hindered efforts to analyze fine‐root trait variation and link it with plant function and environmental conditions at a global scale. This Viewpoint addresses the need for a centralized fine‐root trait database, and introduces the Fine‐Root Ecology Database ( FRED , http://roots.ornl.gov ) which so far includes > 70 000 observations encompassing a broad range of root traits and also includes associated environmental data. FRED represents a critical step toward improving our understanding of below‐ground plant ecology. For example, FRED facilitates the quantification of variation in fine‐root traits across root orders, species, biomes, and environmental gradients while also providing a platform for assessments of covariation among root, leaf, and wood traits, the role of fine roots in ecosystem functioning, and the representation of fine roots in terrestrial biosphere models. Continued input of observations into FRED to fill gaps in trait coverage will improve our understanding of changes in fine‐root traits across space and time.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1362203
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1997567
Journal Information:
New Phytologist, Vol. 215, Issue 1; ISSN 0028-646X
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 212 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (64)

Variation of first-order root traits across climatic gradients and evolutionary trends in geological time: Root trait variation and evolution journal February 2013
Functional traits predict relationship between plant abundance dynamic and long-term climate warming journal October 2013
EFFECT OF ELEVATED CO 2 ON COARSE-ROOT BIOMASS IN FLORIDA SCRUB DETECTED BY GROUND-PENETRATING RADAR journal May 2007
How fundamental plant functional trait relationships scale-up to trade-offs and synergies in ecosystem services: Plant traits scale to ecosystem services trade-offs journal December 2011
Redefining fine roots improves understanding of below-ground contributions to terrestrial biosphere processes journal March 2015
Expanding Use of Plant Trait Observation in Earth System Models journal April 2016
Strong relationship between elemental stoichiometry and metabolome in plants journal February 2012
Morphological Studies of the Root of Red Pine, Pinus resinosa I. Growth Characteristics and Patterns of Branching journal February 1968
A plant economics spectrum of litter decomposability journal September 2011
Global patterns of plant root colonization intensity by mycorrhizal fungi explained by climate and soil chemistry: Global patterns of plant root mycorrhizal colonization intensity journal January 2015
Variation in trait trade-offs allows differentiation among predefined plant functional types: implications for predictive ecology journal September 2015
A fully traits-based approach to modeling global vegetation distribution journal September 2014
Scots pine fine roots adjust along a 2000-km latitudinal climatic gradient journal June 2016
Relationships among root branch order, carbon, and nitrogen in four temperate species journal July 1997
Towards a thesaurus of plant characteristics: an ecological contribution journal December 2016
The world-wide ‘fast-slow’ plant economics spectrum: a traits manifesto journal February 2014
Predicting changes in community composition and ecosystem functioning from plant traits: revisiting the Holy Grail journal October 2002
A global meta-analysis of the relative extent of intraspecific trait variation in plant communities journal September 2015
Fine root morphology is phylogenetically structured, but nitrogen is related to the plant economics spectrum in temperate trees journal December 2014
Going underground: root traits as drivers of ecosystem processes journal December 2014
Model behavior of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: predicting soil carbon dynamics under climate change journal June 2016
Fine Root Architecture of Nine North American Trees journal May 2002
Dimensionality Reduction for Complex Models via Bayesian Compressive Sensing journal January 2014
World Map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification updated [World Map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification updated] journal July 2006
Fine root Architecture of nine North American Trees journal May 2002
Rapid physiological adjustment of roots to localized soil enrichment journal March 1990
Advances in the rhizosphere: stretching the interface of life journal September 2016
Linking root traits to nutrient foraging in arbuscular mycorrhizal trees in a temperate forest journal May 2015
Plant functional types in Earth system models: past experiences and future directions for application of dynamic vegetation models in high-latitude ecosystems journal May 2014
Plant Ecological Strategies: Some Leading Dimensions of Variation Between Species journal November 2002
The effects of simulated nitrogen deposition on plant root traits: A meta-analysis journal March 2015
Coordinated variation in leaf and root traits across multiple spatial scales in Chinese semi-arid and arid ecosystems journal July 2010
New handbook for standardised measurement of plant functional traits worldwide journal January 2013
Fine-Root Ecology Database (FRED): A Global Collection of Root Trait Data with Coincident Site, Vegetation, Edaphic, and Climatic Data, Version 1 dataset January 2017
Evidence of the ‘plant economics spectrum’ in a subarctic flora journal March 2010
Carbon and nitrogen cycle dynamics in the O-CN land surface model: 1. Model description, site-scale evaluation, and sensitivity to parameter estimates: SITE-SCALE EVALUATION OF A C-N MODEL journal February 2010
Roots of the Second Green Revolution journal January 2007
The worldwide leaf economics spectrum journal April 2004
Seedling root responses to soil moisture and the identification of a belowground trait spectrum across three growth forms journal January 2016
The distribution of below-ground traits is explained by intrinsic species differences and intraspecific plasticity in response to root neighbours journal June 2013
Inclusion of ecologically based trait variation in plant functional types reduces the projected land carbon sink in an earth system model journal March 2015
Root structure-function relationships in 74 species: evidence of a root economics spectrum related to carbon economy journal January 2016
Plant functional type mapping for earth system models journal January 2011
Predicting fine root lifespan from plant functional traits in temperate trees journal June 2012
Let the concept of trait be functional! journal May 2007
The global spectrum of plant form and function journal December 2015
Below‐ground frontiers in trait‐based plant ecology journal October 2016
Introduction to a Virtual Special Issue : modeling the hidden half - the root of our problem journal November 2013
Towards a multidimensional root trait framework: a tree root review journal May 2016
Root structural and functional dynamics in terrestrial biosphere models - evaluation and recommendations journal September 2014
Pampered inside, pestered outside? Differences and similarities between plants growing in controlled conditions and in the field journal October 2016
Abiotic stress responses in plant roots: a proteomics perspective journal January 2014
Vegetation classification by reference to strategies journal July 1974
TRY - a global database of plant traits: TRY - A GLOBAL DATABASE OF PLANT TRAITS journal June 2011
Leading dimensions in absorptive root trait variation across 96 subtropical forest species journal May 2014
Costs and benefits of constructing roots of small diameter journal June 1992
The emergence and promise of functional biogeography journal September 2014
Sensitivity of four ecological models to adjustments in fine root turnover rate journal February 2015
Carbon and Nitrogen Economy of 24 Wild Species Differing in Relative Growth Rate journal October 1990
Towards a thesaurus of plant characteristics: an ecological contribution journal December 2016
Morphological Studies of the root of red Pine, Pinus Resinosa i. Growth Characteristics and Patterns of Branching journal February 1968
Assessing the generality of global leaf trait relationships journal February 2005
A global meta-analysis of the relative extent of intraspecific trait variation in plant communities text January 2015
Methods of studying root systems journal January 1981

Cited By (55)

Maintaining connectivity: understanding the role of root order and mycelial networks in fine root decomposition of woody plants journal September 2017
Physical and Functional Constraints on Viable Belowground Acquisition Strategies journal October 2019
Using research networks to create the comprehensive datasets needed to assess nutrient availability as a key determinant of terrestrial carbon cycling journal December 2018
Quantifying the contribution of mass flow to nitrogen acquisition by an individual plant root journal December 2017
Sampling roots to capture plant and soil functions journal June 2017
Improving models of fine root carbon stocks and fluxes in European forests journal January 2020
A global map of root biomass across the world’s forests posted_content January 2020
Global patterns in fine root decomposition: climate, chemistry, mycorrhizal association and woodiness journal March 2019
Global Patterns of Mycorrhizal Distribution and Their Environmental Drivers book June 2017
Appearance can be deceptive: shrubby native mangrove species contributes more to soil carbon sequestration than fast-growing exotic species journal September 2018
An integrated method for high-resolution definition of new diameter-based fine root sub-classes of Fagus sylvatica L. journal July 2018
Nutrient foraging by mycorrhizas: From species functional traits to ecosystem processes journal January 2018
Nonlinearity of root trait relationships and the root economics spectrum journal May 2019
Testing Finch's hypothesis: The role of organismal modularity on the escape from actuarial senescence journal January 2020
Nutrient acquisition strategies in agroforestry systems journal August 2019
Fine root respiration is more strongly correlated with root traits than tree species identity journal November 2019
The effect of drought and season on root life span in temperate arbuscular mycorrhizal and ectomycorrhizal tree species journal May 2019
Multidimensional ecological analyses demonstrate how interactions between functional traits shape fitness and life history strategies journal May 2019
Dynamics and Vertical Distribution of Roots in European Beech Forests and Douglas Fir Plantations in Bulgaria journal December 2019
Advancing global change biology through experimental manipulations: Where have we been and where might we go? journal November 2019
Natural variation on whole‐plant form in the wild is influenced by multivariate soil nutrient characteristics: natural selection acts on root traits journal January 2020
Botanic gardens are an untapped resource for studying the functional ecology of tropical plants
  • Perez, Timothy M.; Valverde-Barrantes, Oscar; Bravo, Catherine
  • Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Vol. 374, Issue 1763 https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2017.0390
journal November 2018
Evolutionary history resolves global organization of root functional traits journal February 2018
Root trait-mediated belowground competition and community composition of a temperate steppe under nitrogen enrichment journal February 2019
The Effects of Tree Species on Soil Organic Carbon Content in South Korea journal March 2019
Constraining Carbon and Nutrient Flows in Soil With Ecological Stoichiometry journal October 2019
Delivering the promises of trait‐based approaches to the needs of demographic approaches, and vice versa journal June 2018
Belowground plant functional ecology: Towards an integrated perspective journal June 2018
The Responses of Forest Fine Root Biomass/Necromass Ratio to Environmental Factors Depend on Mycorrhizal Type and Latitudinal Region journal May 2018
Multiple facets of biodiversity drive the diversity–stability relationship journal August 2018
Evergreenness influences fine root growth more than tree diversity in a common garden experiment journal March 2019
Interactions among decaying leaf litter, root litter and soil organic matter vary with mycorrhizal type journal February 2018
Non‐random association patterns in a plant–mycorrhizal fungal network reveal host–symbiont specificity journal May 2018
Root diameter predicts the extramatrical hyphal exploration distance of the ectomycorrhizal fungal community journal April 2018
Global forest carbon uptake due to nitrogen and phosphorus deposition from 1850 to 2100 journal June 2017
Evaluating the effect of alternative carbon allocation schemes in a land surface model (CLM4.5) on carbon fluxes, pools, and turnover in temperate forests journal January 2017
Trait covariance: the functional warp of plant diversity? journal November 2017
Crop traits drive soil carbon sequestration under organic farming journal February 2018
Microenvironment and functional-trait context dependence predict alpine plant community dynamics journal June 2018
Mechanical traits of fine roots as a function of topology and anatomy journal May 2018
Fine-root traits are linked to species dynamics in a successional plant community journal February 2019
Changes in above and belowground traits of a rhizome clonal plant explain its predominance under nitrogen addition journal September 2018
Root traits across environmental gradients in Mediterranean woody communities: are they aligned along the root economics spectrum? journal October 2017
Plant trait‐based approaches to improve nitrogen cycling in agroecosystems journal September 2019
Climate, soil and plant functional types as drivers of global fine-root trait variation journal April 2017
Association of ectomycorrhizal trees with high carbon-to-nitrogen ratio soils across temperate forests is driven by smaller nitrogen not larger carbon stocks journal February 2018
Global meta-analysis reveals different patterns of root tip adjustments by angiosperm and gymnosperm trees in response to environmental gradients journal November 2018
A worldview of root traits: the influence of ancestry, growth form, climate and mycorrhizal association on the functional trait variation of fine-root tissues in seed plants journal April 2017
The fungal collaboration gradient dominates the root economics space in plants journal July 2020
Constraining carbon and nutrient flows in soil with ecological stoichiometry text January 2019
Towards an Ecological Trait-data Standard text January 2018
Testing Finch's hypothesis: the role of organismal modularity on the escape from actuarial senescence posted_content September 2019
Constraining carbon and nutrient flows in soil with ecological stoichiometry text January 2019
Root trait–microbial relationships across tundra plant species journal October 2020
Plasticity of Fine-Root Traits Under Long-Term Irrigation of a Water-Limited Scots Pine Forest journal June 2019

Similar Records

Tallo: A global tree allometry and crown architecture database
Journal Article · Tue Jun 28 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Global Change Biology · OSTI ID:1362203
+116 more
Potential and limitations of inferring ecosystem photosynthetic capacity from leaf functional traits
Journal Article · Thu Sep 22 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Ecology and Evolution · OSTI ID:1362203
+32 more
Climate, soil and plant functional types as drivers of global fine-root trait variation
Journal Article · Wed Mar 08 00:00:00 EST 2017 · Journal of Ecology · OSTI ID:1362203
+25 more

Related Subjects

96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
fine roots
functional traits
database
terrestrial biosphere models
FRED
Rhizopolis
mycorrhiza