Global Assessment of Environmental and Plant-Trait Influences on Root: Shoot Biomass Ratios.

ABSTRACT: The distribution of assimilated carbon (C) among roots, stems, and leaves is a central process in terrestrial ecosystem dynamics. Yet the biomass allocation schemes used in current global vegetation and land surface models pre-date the existence of large plant-trait data sets and remain largely untested. Here we formulate hypotheses on the controls of root: shoot biomass ratios (R:S), based on eco-evolutionary optimality principles, and assess them quantitatively by analysing data on nearly 30,000 observations of R:S. We analysed global R:S patterns using multiple linear regression models for woody and herbaceous species separately, considering as candidate predictors growing-season mean temperature (T_g), gross primary production (GPP), a measure of root-zone water capacity (RZ<

SUBMITTER: Ding R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12501925 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature