Faculty of Life Sciences, Michael Smith Building, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK.
Nature Conservation and Plant Ecology Group, Wageningen University, PO Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Trends Ecol Evol. 2014 Dec;29(12):692-9. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2014.10.006. Epub 2014 Nov 11.
Ecologists are increasingly adopting trait-based approaches to understand how community change influences ecosystem processes. However, most of this research has focussed on aboveground plant traits, whereas it is becoming clear that root traits are important drivers of many ecosystem processes, such as carbon (C) and nutrient cycling, and the formation and structural stability of soil. Here, we synthesise emerging evidence that illustrates how root traits impact ecosystem processes, and propose a pathway to unravel the complex roles of root traits in driving ecosystem processes and their response to global change. Finally, we identify research challenges and novel technologies to address them.
生态学家越来越多地采用基于特征的方法来理解群落变化如何影响生态系统过程。然而，大多数此类研究都集中在地上植物特征上，而越来越明显的是，根特征是许多生态系统过程的重要驱动因素，例如碳（C）和养分循环以及土壤的形成和结构稳定性。在这里，我们综合了新兴的证据，说明了根特征如何影响生态系统过程，并提出了一条途径来阐明根特征在驱动生态系统过程及其对全球变化的响应中的复杂作用。最后，我们确定了研究挑战和新技术来解决这些问题。
