Rooting for function: community‐level fine‐root traits relate to many ecosystem functions

Humans are driving biodiversity change, which also alters community functional traits. However, how changes in the functional traits of the community alter ecosystem functions-especially belowground-remains an important gap in our understanding of the consequences of biodiversity change. We test hypotheses for how the root traits of the root economics space (composed of the collaboration and conservation gradients) are associated with proxies for ecosystem functioning across grassland and forest ecosystems in both observational and experimental datasets from 810 plant communities. First, we assessed whether community-weighted means of the root economics space traits adhered to the same trade-offs as species-level root traits. Then, we examined the relationships between community-weighted mean root traits and aboveground biomass production, root standing biomass, soil fauna biomass, soil microbial biomass, decomposition of standard and plot-specific material, ammonification, nitrification, phosphatase activity, and drought resistance. We found evidence for a community collaboration gradient but not for a community conservation gradient. Yet, links between community root traits and ecosystem functions were more common than we expected, especially for aboveground biomass, microbial biomass, and decomposition. These findings suggest that changes in species composition, which alter root trait means, will in turn affect critical ecosystem functions.

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Publication Details

Journal
New Phytologist
Published
2025-10-03
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70606
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
2.37

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article

Rooting for function: community‐level fine‐root traits relate to many ecosystem functions

Harald Auge, Alexandra Weigelt, Fons van der Plas, Daniel C. Laughlin et al.
2 citations
New Phytologist
Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
2.37
article

Rooting for function: community‐level fine‐root traits relate to many ecosystem functions

Harald Auge, Alexandra Weigelt, Fons van der Plas, Daniel C. Laughlin, Yvonne Oelmann, Nico Eisenhauer, Catherine Roumet, Jasper van Ruijven, Colleen M. Iversen, Liesje Mommer, Kathryn E. Barry, Joana Bergmann, Grégoire T. Freschet, Justus Hennecke, Josephine Haase, Wolfgang Wilcke, Michael McCormack, Charles A. Nock, Helge Bruelheide, Thomas W. Kuyper, Rachel Wijsmuller
article en
2 citations

Abstract

Humans are driving biodiversity change, which also alters community functional traits. However, how changes in the functional traits of the community alter ecosystem functions-especially belowground-remains an important gap in our understanding of the consequences of biodiversity change. We test hypotheses for how the root traits of the root economics space (composed of the collaboration and conservation gradients) are associated with proxies for ecosystem functioning across grassland and forest ecosystems in both observational and experimental datasets from 810 plant communities. First, we assessed whether community-weighted means of the root economics space traits adhered to the same trade-offs as species-level root traits. Then, we examined the relationships between community-weighted mean root traits and aboveground biomass production, root standing biomass, soil fauna biomass, soil microbial biomass, decomposition of standard and plot-specific material, ammonification, nitrification, phosphatase activity, and drought resistance. We found evidence for a community collaboration gradient but not for a community conservation gradient. Yet, links between community root traits and ecosystem functions were more common than we expected, especially for aboveground biomass, microbial biomass, and decomposition. These findings suggest that changes in species composition, which alter root trait means, will in turn affect critical ecosystem functions.

New PhytologistVol. 248(6)
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (DE), University of Wyoming (US), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (US), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (DE), University of Alberta (CA), École Pratique des Hautes Études (FR), Utrecht University (NL), Université de Montpellier (FR), German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (DE), Morton Arboretum (US), Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive (FR), Universitätsklinikum Tübingen (DE), Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (DE), Station d’Écologie Théorique et Expérimentale (FR), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (CH), Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (DE), Wageningen University & Research (NL), Leipzig University (DE)
National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung, Deutsches Zentrum für integrative Biodiversitätsforschung Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Office of Science, Division of Environmental Biology, Biological and Environmental Research
Openalex Percentile: Top 10%
Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
2.37
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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