TY - JOUR
T1 - Tropical root responses to global changes
T2 - A synthesis
AU - Yaffar, Daniela
AU - Lugli, Laynara F.
AU - Wong, Michelle Y.
AU - Norby, Richard J.
AU - Addo-Danso, Shalom D.
AU - Arnaud, Marie
AU - Cordeiro, Amanda L.
AU - Dietterich, Lee H.
AU - Diaz-Toribio, Milton H.
AU - Lee, Ming Y.
AU - Ghimire, Om Prakash
AU - Smith-Martin, Chris M.
AU - Toro, Laura
AU - Andersen, Kelly
AU - McCulloch, Lindsay A.
AU - Meier, Ina C.
AU - Powers, Jennifer S.
AU - Sanchez-Julia, Mareli
AU - Soper, Fiona M.
AU - Cusack, Daniela F.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC and The Author(s). Global Change Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PY - 2024/7
Y1 - 2024/7
N2 - Tropical ecosystems face escalating global change. These shifts can disrupt tropical forests' carbon (C) balance and impact root dynamics. Since roots perform essential functions such as resource acquisition and tissue protection, root responses can inform about the strategies and vulnerabilities of ecosystems facing present and future global changes. However, root trait dynamics are poorly understood, especially in tropical ecosystems. We analyzed existing research on tropical root responses to key global change drivers: warming, drought, flooding, cyclones, nitrogen (N) deposition, elevated (e) CO2, and fires. Based on tree species- and community-level literature, we obtained 266 root trait observations from 93 studies across 24 tropical countries. We found differences in the proportion of root responsiveness to global change among different global change drivers but not among root categories. In particular, we observed that tropical root systems responded to warming and eCO2 by increasing root biomass in species-scale studies. Drought increased the root: shoot ratio with no change in root biomass, indicating a decline in aboveground biomass. Despite N deposition being the most studied global change driver, it had some of the most variable effects on root characteristics, with few predictable responses. Episodic disturbances such as cyclones, fires, and flooding consistently resulted in a change in root trait expressions, with cyclones and fires increasing root production, potentially due to shifts in plant community and nutrient inputs, while flooding changed plant regulatory metabolisms due to low oxygen conditions. The data available to date clearly show that tropical forest root characteristics and dynamics are responding to global change, although in ways that are not always predictable. This synthesis indicates the need for replicated studies across root characteristics at species and community scales under different global change factors.
AB - Tropical ecosystems face escalating global change. These shifts can disrupt tropical forests' carbon (C) balance and impact root dynamics. Since roots perform essential functions such as resource acquisition and tissue protection, root responses can inform about the strategies and vulnerabilities of ecosystems facing present and future global changes. However, root trait dynamics are poorly understood, especially in tropical ecosystems. We analyzed existing research on tropical root responses to key global change drivers: warming, drought, flooding, cyclones, nitrogen (N) deposition, elevated (e) CO2, and fires. Based on tree species- and community-level literature, we obtained 266 root trait observations from 93 studies across 24 tropical countries. We found differences in the proportion of root responsiveness to global change among different global change drivers but not among root categories. In particular, we observed that tropical root systems responded to warming and eCO2 by increasing root biomass in species-scale studies. Drought increased the root: shoot ratio with no change in root biomass, indicating a decline in aboveground biomass. Despite N deposition being the most studied global change driver, it had some of the most variable effects on root characteristics, with few predictable responses. Episodic disturbances such as cyclones, fires, and flooding consistently resulted in a change in root trait expressions, with cyclones and fires increasing root production, potentially due to shifts in plant community and nutrient inputs, while flooding changed plant regulatory metabolisms due to low oxygen conditions. The data available to date clearly show that tropical forest root characteristics and dynamics are responding to global change, although in ways that are not always predictable. This synthesis indicates the need for replicated studies across root characteristics at species and community scales under different global change factors.
KW - belowground
KW - carbon allocation
KW - disturbances
KW - root traits
KW - tropical forests
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85199410764&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/gcb.17420
DO - 10.1111/gcb.17420
M3 - Review article
C2 - 39044411
AN - SCOPUS:85199410764
SN - 1354-1013
VL - 30
JO - Global Change Biology
JF - Global Change Biology
IS - 7
M1 - e17420
ER -