Time-varying response of fine root growth to soil temperature and soil moisture in cypress and deciduous oak forests.

Abstract

Fine root phenology is controlled by complex mechanisms associated with aboveground phenological events and environmental conditions, and therefore, elucidating fine root responses to changing environments remains difficult without considering the dynamics within and among years. This study evaluated the response of fine root growth at variable time scales to the surrounding environments of soil temperature and moisture at ecosystem scales. Optical scanners were used to measure fine root production over 4years in two forests dominated by either cypress or deciduous oak trees. Correlations between fine root production and soil temperature and moisture were analyzed using the state-space model. Fine root phenology varied among years in the cypress stand and showed stable growth patterns in the oak stand as production peaked in spring every year. Soil temperature had a dominant influence on fine root production, while soil moisture enhanced fine root growth especially in the oak stand. Fine root responses to both soil temperature and moisture peaked during the early growing season, indicating its own temperature hysteresis that means different responses under same temperature within a year. The time-varying response of fine root growth to external factors is a key perspective to explain fine root growth mechanisms, and whether evergreen or deciduous habits differentiates the fine root phenology due to a linkage between above- and belowground resource dynamics.