Tropical root responses to global changes: A synthesis

作者：Daniela Yaffar, Laynara F. Lugli, Michelle Y. Wong, Richard J. Norby, Shalom D. Addo‐Danso, Marie Arnaud, Amanda L. Cordeiro, Lee H. Dietterich, Milton H. Díaz‐Toribio, Ming Yang Lee, Om Prakash Ghimire, Chris M. Smith‐Martin, Laura Toro, Kelly M. Andersen, Lindsay A. McCulloch, Ina C. Meier, Jennifer S. Powers, Mareli Sánchez‐Julia, Fiona M. Soper, Daniela Cusack · 发表于：Global Change Biology · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1111/gcb.17420 · 被引用次数：18 · 研究领域：Plant responses to water stress、Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics、Plant nutrient uptake and metabolism

Abstract 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) CO 2 , 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 eCO 2 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 ...