The underestimated global importance of plant belowground coarse organs in open biomes for ecosystem functioning and conservation
2024
Ottaviani, Gianluigi | Klimešová, Jitka | Charles-Dominique, Tristan | Millan, Mathieu | Harris, Timothy | Silveira, Fernando A.O. | National Research Council of Italy | Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) | National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC) | Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IB / CAS) ; Czech Academy of Sciences [Prague] (CAS) | Institut d'écologie et des sciences de l'environnement de Paris (iEES Paris) ; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 (UPEC UP12)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | Botanique et Modélisation de l'Architecture des Plantes et des Végétations (UMR AMAP) ; Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [Occitanie])-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Université de Montpellier (UM) | Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais = Federal University of Minas Gerais [Belo Horizonte, Brazil] (UFMG)
International audience
Afficher plus [+] Moins [-]anglais. Open biomes such as grasslands, savannas, shrublands are associated with many global biodiversity hotspots, and cover ∼60% of land globally. Yet, extensive and increasing anthropogenic activities threaten their functioning and biodiversity. Here, we argue that, in open biomes, researchers and stakeholders (e.g., policy-makers, practitioners) should more comprehensively acknowledge that more than half of a plant's biomass is typically located belowground. Not only fine roots but different belowground coarse organs of plants (e.g., thick roots, rhizomes) play key ecosystem functions that have been largely neglected in basic and applied ecology. By more accurately accounting for the distribution of these organs along ecological gradients, their biomass turnover and decomposition rate, we would improve estimates of carbon cycling (core in climate change mitigation policies) as well as ameliorating conservation efforts focused on open biomes worldwide.
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