Variation in Fine Root Characteristics and Nutrient Dynamics Across Alaskan Ecosystems
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Variation in Fine Root Characteristics and Nutrient Dynamics Across Alaskan Ecosystems Lindsay A. McCulloch,1* Heather Kropp,2 Alexander Kholodov,3 Catherine L. Cardelu´s,4 Susan M. Natali,5 and Michael M. Loranty6 1
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA; 2Environmental Studies Program, Hamilton College, Clinton, New York, USA; 3Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA; 4 Department of Biology, Colgate University, Hamilton, New York, USA; 5Woodwell Climate Research Center, Falmouth, Massachusetts, USA; 6Department of Geography, Colgate University, Hamilton, New York, USA
ABSTRACT Carbon cycle perturbations in high-latitude ecosystems associated with rapid warming can have implications for the global climate. Belowground biomass is an important component of the carbon cycle in these ecosystems, with, on average, significantly more vegetation biomass belowground than aboveground. Large quantities of dead root biomass are also in these ecosystems owing to slow decomposition rates. Current understanding of how live and dead root biomass carbon pools vary across highlatitude ecosystems and the environmental conditions associated with this variation is limited due to the labor- and time-intensive nature of data collection. To that end, we examined patterns and factors (abiotic and biotic) associated with the variation in live and dead fine root biomass (FRB) and FRB carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus concentrations for 23 sites across a latitudinal gradient in
Alaska, spanning both boreal forest and tundra biomes. We found no difference in the live or dead FRB variables between these biomes, despite large differences in predominant vegetation types, except for significantly higher live FRB C:N ratios in boreal sites. Soil C:N ratio, moisture, and temperature, along with moss cover, explained a substantial portion of the dead:live FRB ratio variability across sites. We find all these factors have negative relationships with dead FRB, while having positive or no relationship with live FRB. This work demonstrates that FRB does not necessarily correlate with aboveground vegetation characteristics, and it highlights the need for finer-scale measurements of abiotic and biotic factors to understand FRB landscape variability now and into the future. Key words: Fine roots; Boreal; Tundra; Belowground biomass; Decomposition; Carbon.
Received 25 June 2020; accepted 18 October 2020 Electronic supplementary material: The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-020-00583-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Author Contributions L.A.M and M.M.L. conceived of the study. L.A.M., H.K., A.K., C.L.C.,S.M.N., and M.M.L performed the research. L.A.M. analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript. All authors contributed to editing and reviewing the manuscript. *Corresponding author; e-mail: [email protected]
HIGHLIGHTS Site-level characterization of live and dead fine ro
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