VARIATIONS OF ELEMENT CONCENTRATIONS IN ROOTS OF DIFFERENT TREE SPECIES

Serdar Akburak

doi:10.1590/01047760202026012665

Abstract

ABSTRACT Element concentrations of roots play an important role for plant growth and below ground biochemical cycles in forest ecosystems. It can show a change among species. This research aimed to determine changes in the nutrient content for different root diameters of trees in the Belgrad forest. Natural species of Sessile oak (Quercus petraea L.), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), Austrian pine (Pinus nigra Arnold.), Turkish fir (Abies bornmuelleriana L.), and Oriental spruce (Picea orientalis L.) were studied. Root sampling was carried out by randomly collecting twenty soil samples within each species once every three months (from April 2007) over one year. Roots were classified by fine root ( 5mm) diameter classes. Total concentration of elements (K, Ca, P, Fe, Mg, Cu, Mn, Al, Ni, Zn, Na) in each root classes were determined. The macro elements Mg, K, and P and all microelements in the included species showed a tendency to decrease in concentration with increasing root diameters. Macro elements except K and P and microelements except Pb, Al, Zn, and Cu showed a significant temporal difference between species based on the root diameters. Al, Pb, Ni, Mn, and Fe showed different antagonistic relations with Ca, Mg, P, and K between species with regard to their concentration in fine roots. There was no significant negative correlation between small and coarse roots in species (except in oak species). The results have shown that nutrient storage characteristics differ between different species in the same site.

Highlights

Because an important part of the whole biomass in the ecosystem forms belowground plant parts, these are important for nutrients and organic substances entry to soil via the roots and for maintaining soil productivity (Lehmann and Zech, 1998)
Except Ca concentration in oak, and spruce, all macro element concentrations showed a tendency to decrease as the root diameter increases (Table 3)
The level of K and Mg in fine and small roots of oak species differed statistically from other species, and concentration of K in the coarse roots of spruce species was significantly different from other species

Summary

Introduction

Because an important part of the whole biomass in the ecosystem forms belowground plant parts, these are important for nutrients and organic substances entry to soil via the roots and for maintaining soil productivity (Lehmann and Zech, 1998). Roots are generally considered as organs that provide nutrients to plant tissues rather than the main nutrient sink (Aerts and Chapin III, 1999). The contribution of fine roots to the nutrient pool can be equal to and even greater than that of leaf tissues (Hobbie et al, 2010; Pallardy, 2008). Root dynamics play an significant role in the evaluation of net primary production of terrestrial ecosystems (Van der Putten et al, 2013; Yang et al, 2010). The input to soil the with the decomposition of fine roots is important for the health of the forests, continuity of growth, soil microfauna in the root zone, and population of microflora (Bloomfield, 1996)

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