BACKGROUND AND AIMS Biomass partitioning for resource conservation might affect plant allometry, accounting for a substantial amount of unexplained variation in existing plant allometry models. One means of resource conservation is through direct allocation to storage in particular organs. In this study, storage allocation and biomass allometry of deciduous and evergreen tree species from seaso...

Seedlings of co-occurring species vary in their response to resource availability and this has implications for the conservation and management of forests. Differential shade-tolerance is thought to influence seedling performance in mixed Nothofagus betuloides-Nothofagus pumilio forests of Patagonia. However, these species also vary in their soil nutrient requirements. To determine the effects ...

Native parasitic plants may be used to infect and control invasive plants. We established microcosms with invasive Mikania micrantha and native Coix lacryma-jobi growing in mixture on native soils, with M. micrantha being infected by parasitic Cuscuta campestris at four intensity levels for seven weeks to estimate the top-down effects of plant parasitism on the biomass and functional diversity ...

1. Introduction The evaluation of tree root biomass is significant and difficult to survey accurately. Traditional approach used for roots biomass harvest (e.g., soil cores and trenches) provide reasonable accurate information but they are destructive in nature, labour intensive, and limited whit respect to soil volume and surface area that can be assessed. Data derived from traditional root ex...

This study aimed to test the hypothesis that root morphology might be improved and consequently contributing to superior post-heading shoot growth and grain yield in late-stage vigor super rice. A pot experiment was carried out to compare yield attributes, shoot growth and physiological properties and root morphological traits between a late-stage vigor super rice cultivar (Y-liangyou 087) and ...

In order to understand plant functioning, plant community composition, and terrestrial biogeochemistry, it is decisive to study standing root biomass, (fine) root dynamics, and interactions belowground. While most plant taxa can be identified by visual criteria aboveground, roots show less distinctive features. Furthermore, root systems of neighboring plants are rarely spatially segregated; thu...

Human selection for high crop yield under water-limited conditions should have led modern cereal cultivars to invest less in root biomass, be it unconsciously. To test this hypothesis we conducted a pot experiment with two spring wheat cultivars, one old and one modern, both widely grown in the semi-arid regions of China. Using the replacement series method introduced by de Wit, we showed that ...

We assessed the impacts of hay-scented fern (Dennstaedtia punctilobula (Michx.) Moore) and subsoil liming (CaO amendments) on root and shoot growth of greenhouse-grown, first-year, northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) seedlings. Red oak seedlings and ferns were grown in reconstructed soil profiles of four common Pennsylvanian forest soils. When grown in the presence of hay-scented ferns, with or...

There is increasing interest in amending degraded soils with organic matter to improve soil quality, especially in urban areas where rehabilitation of damaged soils may enhance tree growth and provision of ecosystem services. To assess the potential of such organic amendments for producing a sustained alteration in soil biological characteristics, researchers studied the effects of three organi...

There are many examples of branching networks in nature, such as tree crowns, river systems, arteries and lungs. These networks have often been described as being self-similar, or following scale-invariant branching rules, and this property has been used to derive several scaling laws. In this paper we model root systems of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca (Beissn.) Franco) as bra...