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

Colleen M. Iversen; M. Luke McCormack; A. Shafer Powell; Christopher B. Blackwood; Grégoire T. Freschet; Jens Kattge; Catherine Roumet; Daniel B. Stover; Nadejda A. Soudzilovskaia; Oscar J. Valverde-Barrantes; Peter M. van Bodegom; Cyrille Violle

doi:10.1111/nph.14486

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

Colleen M. Iversen, M. Luke McCormack, A. Shafer Powell, Christopher B. Blackwood, Grégoire T. Freschet, Jens Kattge, Catherine Roumet, Daniel B. Stover, Nadejda A. Soudzilovskaia, Oscar J. Valverde-Barrantes, Peter M. van Bodegom, Cyrille Violle

Plant-Soil Interactions

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

289 Scopus citations

Abstract

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.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	15-26
Number of pages	12
Journal	New Phytologist
Volume	215
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.14486
State	Published - Jul 2017

Funding

We thank Paul Hanson, Rich Norby, Jeff Warren, Stan Wullschleger, and anonymous reviewers for their comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript, Chris DeRolph for his assistance with GIS mapping, and Derek Brownlee, Ranjeet Devarakonda, and Les Hook for their assistance with best data management practices and the website http://roots.ornl.gov. C.M.I., M.L.M., and A.S.P. were supported by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research in the US Department of Energy's Office of Science. C.V. was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant Project ‘Ecophysiological and biophysical constraints on domestication in crop plants’ (Grant ERC-StG-2014-639706-CONSTRAINTS). This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under contract no. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan).

Keywords

Fine-Root Ecology Database (FRED)
database
fine roots
functional traits
terrestrial biosphere models

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10.1111/nph.14486

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title = "A global Fine-Root Ecology Database to address below-ground challenges in plant ecology",

abstract = "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.",

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

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