Publikation:

Belowground functional traits of plants as drivers of biodiversity and plant strategies

Lade...
Vorschaubild

Dateien

Lachaise_2-15ccbr9aydhqp3.pdf
Lachaise_2-15ccbr9aydhqp3.pdfGröße: 12.34 MBDownloads: 234

Datum

2021

Autor:innen

Lachaise, Tom

Herausgeber:innen

Kontakt

ISSN der Zeitschrift

Electronic ISSN

ISBN

Bibliografische Daten

Verlag

Schriftenreihe

Auflagebezeichnung

DOI (zitierfähiger Link)
ArXiv-ID

Internationale Patentnummer

Angaben zur Forschungsförderung

Projekt

Open Access-Veröffentlichung
Open Access Green
Core Facility der Universität Konstanz

Gesperrt bis

Titel in einer weiteren Sprache

Publikationstyp
Dissertation
Publikationsstatus
Published

Erschienen in

Zusammenfassung

Plant roots and belowground organs have been overlooked in ecology, despite their importance for plant functioning and their potential for explaining ecological patterns. The ‘hidden half’ of plants determine their ability to forage for soil nutrients and water, serve as an anchor and interact directly or indirectly with soil organisms such as the root microbiota, pathogens, pests, and decomposers. Recent advances allowed identifying traits of interest (functional traits) that could explain how root systems are organised and how their diversity relates to the distribution of plants across spatial and environmental scales. However, most of the insights come from small experiments with low sample sizes or their compilation in databases, where differences in methodology can add significant biases. We still lack extensive belowground trait screenings obtained for different habitats necessary to ascertain the robustness and generality of the findings. Despite increasing inequalities in species distribution, notably with plant invasion and extinction of rare species, the importance of belowground traits in determining abundance and dominance has not yet been assessed. Though consensually viewed as important structures for resource uptake, root hairs have not yet been empirically integrated into a conceptual view of the root functional space. The existence of a bidimensional root trait space with a ‘collaboration’ and a ‘conservation’ gradient has not been tested in plant communities, nor its variation across environmental conditions. This thesis endeavours to participate in the discussion about these four frontiers of belowground ecology. I conducted three trait screening multispecies experiments in semi-controlled conditions on individual plants in pots to unravel these issues. I tried to include the maximum number of species that occur in German grasslands to encompass most of the vegetation cover occurring in the field and a large spectrum of phylogenetic differences. Traits measured included root morphology on fine roots and root system, rooting depth, root nitrogen content and uptake rates, and aboveground traits. I used databases and collaborative work to add root hairs, mycorrhizal colonization, belowground clonal traits, and additional aboveground traits. I related the traits between them and with metrics related to plant distribution and environmental conditions. In the first study, ten above- and belowground traits from 241 central European grassland species were used as predictors of the species abundance and occurrence frequency at seven spatial scales, from 16 m² grassland plots to their naturalization success. Species success was always associated with at least three traits, and the explanatory power of traits ranged from 2 to 42%. Low root tissue density was a predictor of species success at every scale, whereas other traits showed directional changes depending on spatial resolution. Local abundance was characterized by traits usually associated with a ‘competitive’ strategy and global distribution with a ‘ruderal’ strategy. Belowground traits were at least as important and sometimes more than aboveground traits. In the second study, root hair abundance and incidence, mycorrhizal colonization rate, and root morphology were assessed on 82 central European grassland species with fluorescence and compound microscopy. We found a phylogenetically conserved trade-off between investment in root hairs and colonization by mycorrhiza. The trade-off also occurred within species and was highest in species that rely less on root hairs. These findings suggest that the ‘do-it-yourself’ side of the ‘collaboration’ plant strategy gradient might compensate for the absence of root hyphae for nutrient foraging by using root hairs instead. In the third study, nine belowground traits and specific leaf area were used to calculate Community Weighted Means for 150 grassland plots surveyed 11 years for vegetation cover. We identified principal components (dimensions) and related the scores of the communities vii along the dimensions to ten environmental variables relating to soil parameters and land use. Two main dimensions corresponding to a ‘collaboration’ and a ‘conservation’ gradients were enough to capture functionally relevant variability for the ten traits included. Overlooked traits did not load on additional functionally relevant dimensions: bud-bank size was associated with the ‘slow’, branching intensity with the ‘do-it-yourself’, rooting depth, and, surprisingly, root nitrogen content with the ‘outsourcing’ strategies. Land-use intensity and soil parameters indicative of high soil fertility were associated with the ‘fast’ and ‘outsourcing’ communities but with different indicators and a contrasting effect of ammonium and nitrate. This thesis provides evidence that belowground traits provide additional information on plant functioning compared to aboveground traits and explain ecological patterns. Both the integrated above-belowground ‘fast-slow’ gradient and a bidimensional root functional space explain the functional structure of traits in herbaceous species and communities. I provide indirect evidence that particular trait values of belowground traits provide fitness advantages that result in differences in species distribution, with and without considering their adaptive values in different environmental conditions.

Zusammenfassung in einer weiteren Sprache

Fachgebiet (DDC)
570 Biowissenschaften, Biologie

Schlagwörter

Konferenz

Rezension
undefined / . - undefined, undefined

Forschungsvorhaben

Organisationseinheiten

Zeitschriftenheft

Zugehörige Datensätze in KOPS

Zitieren

ISO 690LACHAISE, Tom, 2021. Belowground functional traits of plants as drivers of biodiversity and plant strategies [Dissertation]. Konstanz: University of Konstanz
BibTex
@phdthesis{Lachaise2021Below-66201,
  year={2021},
  title={Belowground functional traits of plants as drivers of biodiversity and plant strategies},
  author={Lachaise, Tom},
  address={Konstanz},
  school={Universität Konstanz}
}
RDF
<rdf:RDF
    xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
    xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
    xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
    xmlns:bibo="http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/"
    xmlns:dspace="http://digital-repositories.org/ontologies/dspace/0.1.0#"
    xmlns:foaf="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"
    xmlns:void="http://rdfs.org/ns/void#"
    xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#" > 
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/server/rdf/resource/123456789/66201">
    <void:sparqlEndpoint rdf:resource="http://localhost/fuseki/dspace/sparql"/>
    <dcterms:available rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime">2023-02-23T10:42:37Z</dcterms:available>
    <dc:rights>terms-of-use</dc:rights>
    <dc:date rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime">2023-02-23T10:42:37Z</dc:date>
    <dspace:hasBitstream rdf:resource="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/bitstream/123456789/66201/4/Lachaise_2-15ccbr9aydhqp3.pdf"/>
    <dcterms:abstract>Plant roots and belowground organs have been overlooked in ecology, despite their
importance for plant functioning and their potential for explaining ecological patterns. The ‘hidden half’ of plants determine their ability to forage for soil nutrients and water, serve as an anchor and interact directly or indirectly with soil organisms such as the root microbiota, pathogens, pests, and decomposers. Recent advances allowed identifying traits of interest (functional traits) that could explain how root systems are organised and how their diversity relates to the distribution of plants across spatial and environmental scales. However, most of the insights come from small experiments with low sample sizes or their compilation in databases, where differences in methodology can add significant biases. We still lack extensive belowground trait screenings obtained for different habitats necessary to ascertain the
robustness and generality of the findings. Despite increasing inequalities in species
distribution, notably with plant invasion and extinction of rare species, the importance of belowground traits in determining abundance and dominance has not yet been assessed.
Though consensually viewed as important structures for resource uptake, root hairs have not yet been empirically integrated into a conceptual view of the root functional space. The existence of a bidimensional root trait space with a ‘collaboration’ and a ‘conservation’ gradient has not been tested in plant communities, nor its variation across environmental conditions. This thesis endeavours to participate in the discussion about these four frontiers of belowground ecology.
I conducted three trait screening multispecies experiments in semi-controlled
conditions on individual plants in pots to unravel these issues. I tried to include the maximum number of species that occur in German grasslands to encompass most of the vegetation cover occurring in the field and a large spectrum of phylogenetic differences. Traits measured included  root morphology on fine roots and root system, rooting depth, root nitrogen content and uptake rates, and aboveground traits. I used databases and collaborative work to add root hairs, mycorrhizal colonization, belowground clonal traits, and additional aboveground traits.
I related the traits between them and with metrics related to plant distribution and
environmental conditions.
In the first study, ten above- and belowground traits from 241 central European
grassland species were used as predictors of the species abundance and occurrence frequency at seven spatial scales, from 16 m² grassland plots to their naturalization success. Species success was always associated with at least three traits, and the explanatory power of traits ranged from 2 to 42%. Low root tissue density was a predictor of species success at every scale, whereas other traits showed directional changes depending on spatial resolution. Local abundance was characterized by traits usually associated with a ‘competitive’ strategy and global distribution with a ‘ruderal’ strategy. Belowground traits were at least as important and sometimes more than aboveground traits.
In the second study, root hair abundance and incidence, mycorrhizal colonization rate,
and root morphology were assessed on 82 central European grassland species with fluorescence and compound microscopy. We found a phylogenetically conserved trade-off between investment in root hairs and colonization by mycorrhiza. The trade-off also occurred within species and was highest in species that rely less on root hairs. These findings suggest that the ‘do-it-yourself’ side of the ‘collaboration’ plant strategy gradient might compensate for the absence of root hyphae for nutrient foraging by using root hairs instead.
In the third study, nine belowground traits and specific leaf area were used to calculate Community Weighted Means for 150 grassland plots surveyed 11 years for vegetation cover. We identified principal components (dimensions) and related the scores of the communities vii along the dimensions to ten environmental variables relating to soil parameters and land use.
Two main dimensions corresponding to a ‘collaboration’ and a ‘conservation’ gradients were enough to capture functionally relevant variability for the ten traits included. Overlooked traits did not load on additional functionally relevant dimensions: bud-bank size was associated with the ‘slow’, branching intensity with the ‘do-it-yourself’, rooting depth, and, surprisingly, root nitrogen content with the ‘outsourcing’ strategies. Land-use intensity and soil parameters
indicative of high soil fertility were associated with the ‘fast’ and ‘outsourcing’ communities but with different indicators and a contrasting effect of ammonium and nitrate.
This thesis provides evidence that belowground traits provide additional information
on plant functioning compared to aboveground traits and explain ecological patterns. Both the integrated above-belowground ‘fast-slow’ gradient and a bidimensional root functional space explain the functional structure of traits in herbaceous species and communities. I provide indirect evidence that particular trait values of belowground traits provide fitness advantages that result in differences in species distribution, with and without considering their adaptive values in different environmental conditions.</dcterms:abstract>
    <dspace:isPartOfCollection rdf:resource="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/server/rdf/resource/123456789/28"/>
    <dcterms:hasPart rdf:resource="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/bitstream/123456789/66201/4/Lachaise_2-15ccbr9aydhqp3.pdf"/>
    <dc:contributor>Lachaise, Tom</dc:contributor>
    <dcterms:issued>2021</dcterms:issued>
    <foaf:homepage rdf:resource="http://localhost:8080/"/>
    <dcterms:isPartOf rdf:resource="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/server/rdf/resource/123456789/28"/>
    <bibo:uri rdf:resource="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/handle/123456789/66201"/>
    <dc:language>eng</dc:language>
    <dcterms:rights rdf:resource="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/"/>
    <dc:creator>Lachaise, Tom</dc:creator>
    <dcterms:title>Belowground functional traits of plants as drivers of biodiversity and plant strategies</dcterms:title>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

Interner Vermerk

xmlui.Submission.submit.DescribeStep.inputForms.label.kops_note_fromSubmitter

Kontakt
URL der Originalveröffentl.

Prüfdatum der URL

Prüfungsdatum der Dissertation

October 6, 2021
Hochschulschriftenvermerk
Konstanz, Univ., Diss., 2021
Finanzierungsart

Kommentar zur Publikation

Allianzlizenz
Corresponding Authors der Uni Konstanz vorhanden
Internationale Co-Autor:innen
Universitätsbibliographie
Ja
Begutachtet
Diese Publikation teilen