Biome boundary maintained by intense belowground resource competition in world’s thinnest-rooted plant community
- Journal:
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- Published:
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.2117514119
- Affiliations:
- 7
- Authors:
- 11
Research Highlight
Roots determine dominant biome
© Martin Harvey/The Image Bank/Getty Images
Belowground competition for scarce resources fought by plant roots plays a much bigger role than previously thought in determining boundaries between biomes.
Abiotic factors such as geology, climate and fire regimes have been thought to largely determine the dominant biome in an area.
But now, a team that included researchers from the University of Cape Town in South Africa has shown that the root strategies that plants employ to obtain nutrients from the soil can determine the biome.
In a four-yield field study, the team investigated the sharp boundaries between two very contrasting biomes: one (forest) dominated by a small number of trees and the other (Fynbos) with great plant diversity that included many shrubs. The two biomes occur in areas with identical climate and geology.
The team found that the different root strategies employed determined whether forest or Fynbos dominated.
References
- PNAS 119, e2117514119 (2022). doi: 10.1073/pnas.2117514119