Abstract
Aims
The purpose of this study was to clarify how the morphological traits of Chamaecyparis obtusa (Sieb. & Zucc.) Endl. roots vary with soil acid buffering capacity (ABC), i.e., along a gradient in soil acidification. We used an order-based root classification system instead of a diameter-based root classification system, as the former relates better to root function.
Methods
We sampled 210 intact fine root systems up to the fourth order and measured the morphological traits of a total of 16,657 individual branch-order roots in three C. obtusa stands with high soil ABC and four stands with low soil ABC.
Results
We found significant differences in the morphological traits of the first- to fourth-order roots between the soil ABCs. In the low-ABC soils, the fine root systems consisted of more and thinner roots than in the high-ABC soils. The diameter of the second-order roots was positively correlated with the soil pH and the concentration of base cations, but negatively with soil aluminum.
Conclusion
Morphological traits of fine roots are sensitive indicators of soil acidification in C. obtusa forests.
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Abbreviations
- ABC:
-
Acid buffering capacity
- BC:
-
Base cation
- BS:
-
Base saturation
- Rb:
-
Branching ratio
- SRL:
-
Specific root length
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the editor and two anonymous reviewers for giving constructive comments and fruitful suggestions on our earlier version of the manuscript. We thank M. Ohashi (University of Hyogo) for reading the first draft of the manuscript and providing invaluable comments. We thank M. Takano, Y. Yamaguchi, and T. Miyasaka (Nagoya University) for their valuable suggestions. We thank K. Miyatani (Nagoya University), T. Okamoto, T. Mizoguchi (Forestry and Forest Product Research Institute) for their assistance and guidance with the field work and laboratory analyses. We thank H. Fukumoto (Mie Prefectural Forestry Research Center), Y. Kodaka (Inabe Hokusei agency), S. Suzuki (Okazaki municipal office), T. Kadoya (Aichi Prefectural Forestry Institute), T. Hakamata (Shizuoka Prefectural Research Institute of Agriculture and Forestry), S. Ishihara (Numazu municipal office), H. Watanabe, Y. Motegi (Gifu Prefectural Research Institute for Forests), and the Tenryuu District Forest Office for permission to use the forest health-monitoring survey sites of the Forest Agency of Japan. This study was partly supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 15H04519, 18J23364, 19H03011.
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Doi, R., Tanikawa, T., Wada, R. et al. Morphological traits of Chamaecyparis obtusa fine roots are sensitive to soil acid buffering capacity. Plant Soil 452, 73–85 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-020-04561-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-020-04561-w