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Data from: Root responses to elevated CO2, warming, and irrigation in a semi-arid grassland: integrating biomass, length, and life span in a 5‐year field experiment

Mueller, Kevin E., Cleveland State University, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0739-7472
LeCain, Daniel R., United States Department of Agriculture
McCormack, M. Luke, University of Minnesota
Pendall, Elise, Western Sydney University
Carlson, Mary, United States Department of Agriculture
Blumenthal, Dana M., United States Department of Agriculture
kevin.e.mueller@gmail.com
Published Apr 05, 2019 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.fk7bh24

Cite this dataset

Mueller, Kevin E. et al. (2019). Data from: Root responses to elevated CO2, warming, and irrigation in a semi-arid grassland: integrating biomass, length, and life span in a 5‐year field experiment [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.fk7bh24

Abstract

  1. Plant roots mediate the impacts of environmental change on ecosystems, yet knowledge of root responses to environmental change is limited because few experiments evaluate multiple environmental factors and their interactions. Inferences about root functions are also limited because root length dynamics are rarely measured.
  2. Using a five‐year experiment in a mixed‐grass prairie, we report the responses of root biomass, length, and lifespan to elevated carbon dioxide (CO2), warming, elevated CO2 and warming combined, and irrigation. Root biomass was quantified using soil cores and root length dynamics were assessed using minirhizotrons. By comparing root dynamics with published results for soil resources and aboveground productivity, we provide mechanistic insights into how climate change might impact grassland ecosystems.
  3. In the upper soil layer, 0–15 cm depth, both irrigation and elevated CO2 alone increased total root length by two‐fold, but irrigation decreased root biomass and elevated CO2 had only small positive effects on root biomass. The large positive effects of irrigation and elevated CO2 alone on total root length were due to increases in both root length production and root lifespan. The increased total root length and lifespan under irrigation and elevated CO2 coincided with apparent shifts from water‐limitation of plant growth to nitrogen‐limitation. Warming alone had minimal effects on root biomass, length, and lifespan in this shallow soil layer. Warming and elevated CO2 combined increased root biomass and total root length by ~25%, but total root length in this treatment was lower than expected if the effects of CO2 and warming alone were additive. Treatment effects on total root length and root lifespan varied with soil depth and root diameter.
  4. Synthesis. Sub‐additive effects of CO2 and warming suggest studies of elevated CO2 alone might overestimate the future capacity of grassland root systems to acquire resources. In this mixed‐grass prairie, elevated CO2 with warming stimulated total root length and root lifespan in deeper soils, likely enhancing plant access to more stable pools of growth‐limiting resources, including water and phosphorus. Thus, these root responses help explain previous observations of higher, and more stable, aboveground productivity in these projected climate conditions.

Usage notes

individual_roots_lifespan_survivorship_length_diameter

Data used for analyses of root lifespan and survivorship
 
 

total_root_length_production_mortality

Data used for analyses of total 'standing' root length, total root production, and total root mortality
 
 

Funding

Location

Wyoming
U.S.A.
North America