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Field methods to study the spatial root density distribution of individual plants

PLANT AND SOIL (2021)

Journal

PLANT AND SOIL

Volume 462, Issue 1-2, Pages 25-43

Publisher

SPRINGER

DOI: 10.1007/s11104-021-04841-z

Keywords

Belowground plant ecology; Root detection; Root ecology; Root extraction; Root identification; Root methods

Funding

May Fellowship in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University
Belgian American Educational Foundation
Ramon y Cajal postdoctoral fellowship (MINECO, Spain)

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Abstract

The ecological study of root systems faces methodological challenges, but root investigation methods are evolving to meet high standards of quantitative data. Spatial root density distribution is crucial for understanding root foraging behavior and competition underground, with potential methods including ground-penetrating radar, soil sampling with root staining, and DNA sequencing.

Background The ecological study of root systems lags behind the understanding of the aboveground components of plant communities, mainly due to methodological challenges. As ecological root theory develops complexity, root investigation methods are required to meet higher standards of quantitative and detailed data. Scope Spatial root density distribution of plants represents one of the main features pursued in ecological studies, as it provides insight into root foraging behavior and belowground competition. To study root density, ecologists should preferably use and develop methods with the potential to provide the most comprehensive information: Individual Root Density Distribution (IRDD), i.e. individual-level and spatially-explicit root density maps. Here, we review the existing methods to detect roots in the field (detection methods), and to infer the identity of these roots (identification methods). We discuss potential combinations of Detection and Identification (DI) methods, and the data quality that these combinations yield in respect to IRDD. Conclusion We anticipate that root field ecologists progressively may want to adopt DI methods showing the highest potential to provide high-quality IRDD. These methods are (i) ground-penetrating radar or acoustic tomography in combination with tracking the roots to the individual plant (i.e. skeleton method sensu lato), (ii) soil sampling in combination with in situ root staining (for physiological individuals), or (iii) soil sampling in combination with DNA microsatellites or single nucleotide polymorphism sequencing (for genetic individuals).

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