Data for: Linking root traits to phytoremediation in trees and shrubs: implications of root economics spectrum
Data files
Nov 27, 2023 version files 24.85 KB
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README.md
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root_trait_values_of_11_woody_plants.xlsx
Abstract
- Phytoremediation is a promising technique for removing or stabilizing metal ions from metallic trace elements (MTEs) contaminated soils. Despite the significant role of roots in plant growth and survival, limited information is available on the functional covariation of root traits under MTEs stress, and linkages between root resource-use strategies and phytoremediation functioning.
- Sixteen root traits were measured across 11 trees and shrubs grown in Pb-Zn mine tailings in Southeastern China, to examine whether a hypothesized root economics spectrum (RES) exists under extremely high levels of multiple MTEs stress and evaluate the importance of root functional traits in explaining phytoremediation functioning.
- Our findings offer evidence supporting the widely accepted resource-use strategy of acquisitive-conservative. Furthermore, we have identified a distinct dimension of RES representing the trade-off between root system size and root tissue density. This new dimension highlights the critical importance of root size, shape, and proliferation strategy in the context of metal-contaminated soil. Moreover, a trade-off between root cadmium concentration and root dry matter content was observed, which implies the existence of a presumable biomass cost for MTEs' accumulation.
- We identified specific key root traits and their contributions to MTE translocation and bioconcentration and established linkages between root resource-use strategy and phytoremediation: roots with more acquisitive traits promote MTE translocation, while conservative roots foster bioconcentration. In addition, acquisitive roots usually exhibit lower biomass costs for accumulating MTEs than do conservative roots.
- Synthesis and applications Our results highlight the important role of root size-related traits in the RES framework in metal-contaminated soil. Furthermore, we discovered that woody species exhibit different capacities for accumulating or translocating MTEs, depending on their root system shapes and their position on the axis of RES. These findings provide valuable support for the accurate selection of suitable plant species for ecological restoration purposes. And they hold significant potential in guiding the development of efficient phytoremediation strategies specifically targeting sites contaminated with MTEs.
README: Data for: Linking root traits to phytoremediation in trees and shrubs: implications of root economics spectrum
Description of the data and file structure
Column A is root types resulted from a cluster analysis based on column C-O, column B is the abbreviations of species, column C-K are nine key root traits for PCA1, plus column PV are all root traits for PCA2. Columns C-Q are explanatory variables and X-AI as response variables for linear regressions.
The unit and full name of the abbreviations in the headline are:
- RD cm root depth
- RS cm root spread
- AD mm average diameter
- RTD g.cm-3 root tissue density
- SRL cm.g-1 specific root length
- SRA m2.g-1 specific root area
- RN g.kg-1 root nitrogen content
- RMA g.cm-2 root mass per area
- RDMC g.g-1 root dry matter content
- MRL cm maximum lateral root length
- TL cm total length
- SA cm2 surface area
- FLR % fine root length ratio
- RP g.kg-1 root phosphorus content
- RK g.kg-1 root potissium content
- R_Pb mg.kg-1 root lead content
- R_Zn mg.kg-1 root zinc content
- R_Cd mg.kg-1 root cadmium content
- R_As mg.kg-1 root arsenic content
- R_Cu mg.kg-1 root copper content
- TF_Pb unitless Tanslocation factor of lead
- TF_Zn unitless Tanslocation factor of zinc
- TF_Cu unitless Tanslocation factor of copper
- TF_As unitless Tanslocation factor of arsenic
- TF_Cd unitless Tanslocation factor of cadmium
- BCF_Pb unitless bioconcentration factor of lead
- BCF_Zn unitless bioconcentration factor of zinc
- BCF_Cu unitless bioconcentration factor of copper
- BCF_As unitless bioconcentration factor of arsenic
- BCF_Cd unitless bioconcentration factor of cadmium
- CBAI unitless comprehensive bioaccumulation index
- CBCI unitless comprehensive bioconcentration index