Fine‑root traits coordinate with aboveground strategies yet poorly predict species’ response to spruce mortality

Abstract

Aims: Fine-root traits are important for understanding the strategies plant species use to coexist in communities and persist in resource-limited environments. The extent to which aboveground and belowground strategies are coordinated is a continued subject of debate, and the role of fine-root traits in determining species responses to disturbance is largely unknown. … Methods: We measured fine-root traits representing the conservation and collaboration axes of the root economics space and leaf traits associated with the leaf economics spectrum of 56 understory species across 75 plots that experienced a canopy opening disturbance 10 years prior in Wyoming, USA. We used principal component analysis to assess the coordination of aboveground and belowground strategies, and linear models to assess the relative importance of aboveground and belowground traits at explaining the change in understory species cover. … Results: Traits related to the leaf economics spectrum (leaf dry matter content, leaf nitrogen) and the root conservation axis (root nitrogen, root tissue density) aligned with each other, but were orthogonal to the root collaboration axis (root diameter, specific root length) and aboveground plant height. Fine-root traits did not explain any additional variation in the response of understory species cover to disturbance beyond the variation explained by vegetative height and pre-disturbance species frequency. … Conclusions: We provide further evidence for the coordination of aboveground and belowground economics strategies. Our results suggest that competition for light is more important than competition for resources belowground following the widespread disturbance that opened the canopy but did not physically perturb the soil or understory.

Citation

Carter, Trevor A.; Stears, Alice E.; Fornwalt, Paula J.; Atkins, David H.; Dwire, Kathleen A.; Fleri, Jesse R.; Hayes, Katherine R.; Mount, Hailey E.; Twaddell, Erin M.; Wessel, Sienna A.; Buma, Brian; Laughlin, Daniel C. 2025. Fine‑root traits coordinate with aboveground strategies yet poorly predict species’ response to spruce mortality. Plant and Soil. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-025-07463-x.