Mechanical traits of fine roots as a function of topology and anatomy
Mao, Zhun | Wang, Yan | Mc Cormack, M Luke | Rowe, Nick P | Deng, Xiaobao | Yang, Xiaodong | Xia, Shangwen | Nespoulous, Jérôme | Sidle, Roy C | Guo, Dali | Stokes, Alexia | Botanique et Modélisation de l'Architecture des Plantes et des Végétations (UMR AMAP) ; Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [Occitanie]) | Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden ; Chinese Academy of Sciences [Beijing] (CAS) | Center of Forest Ecosystem Studies and Qianyanzhou Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling ; Chinese Academy of Sciences | Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS (IGSNRR - CAS) | Department of Plant and Microbial Biology [Berkeley] ; University of California [Berkeley] (UC Berkeley) ; University of California (UC)-University of California (UC) | Xishuangbanna Station for Tropical Rain Forest Ecosystem Studies ; Chinese Ecosystem Research Net | Sustainability Research Centre ; University of the Sunshine Coast (USC)
Background and Aims Root mechanical traits, including tensile strength (T-r), tensile strain (epsilon(r)) and modulus of elasticity (E-r), are key functional traits that help characterize plant anchorage and the physical contribution of vegetation to landslides and erosion. The variability in these traits is high among tree fine roots and is poorly understood. Here, we explore the variation in root mechanical traits as well as their underlying links with morphological (diameter), architectural (topological order) and anatomical (stele and cortex sizes) traits.Methods We investigated the four tropical tree species Pometia tomentosa, Barringtonia fusicarpa, Baccaurea ramiflora and Pittosporopsis kerrii in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China. For each species, we excavated intact, fresh, fine roots and measured mechanical and anatomical traits for each branching order.Key Results Mechanical traits varied enormously among the four species within a narrow range of diameters (<2 mm): <0.1-65 MPa for T-r, 4-1135 MPa for E-r and 0.4-37 % for epsilon(r). Across species, T-r and E-r were strongly correlated with stele area ratio, which was also better correlated with topological order than with root diameter, especially at interspecific levels.Conclusions Root topological order plays an important role in explaining variability in fine-root mechanical traits due to its reflection of root tissue development. Accounting for topological order when measuring fine-root traits therefore leads to greater empirical understanding of plant functions (e.g. anchorage) within and across species.
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