Turnover of grassland roots in mountain ecosystems revealed by their radiocarbon signature: role of temperature and management.

ABSTRACT: Root turnover is an important carbon flux component in grassland ecosystems because it replenishes substantial parts of carbon lost from soil via heterotrophic respiration and leaching. Among the various methods to estimate root turnover, the root's radiocarbon signature has rarely been applied to grassland soils previously, although the value of this approach is known from studies in forest soils. In this paper, we utilize the root's radiocarbon signatures, at 25 plots, in mountain grasslands of the montane to alpine zone of Europe. We place the results in context of a global data base on root turnover and discuss driving factors. Root turnover rates were similar to those of a subsample of the global data, comprising a similar temperature range, but measured with different approaches, ind

SUBMITTER: Leifeld J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4347979 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature