RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The fungal collaboration gradient dominates the root economics space in plants
JF Science Advances
JO Sci Adv
FD American Association for the Advancement of Science
SP eaba3756
DO 10.1126/sciadv.aba3756
VO 6
IS 27
A1 Bergmann, Joana
A1 Weigelt, Alexandra
A1 van der Plas, Fons
A1 Laughlin, Daniel C.
A1 Kuyper, Thom W.
A1 Guerrero-Ramirez, Nathaly
A1 Valverde-Barrantes, Oscar J.
A1 Bruelheide, Helge
A1 Freschet, Grégoire T.
A1 Iversen, Colleen M.
A1 Kattge, Jens
A1 McCormack, M. Luke
A1 Meier, Ina C.
A1 Rillig, Matthias C.
A1 Roumet, Catherine
A1 Semchenko, Marina
A1 Sweeney, Christopher J.
A1 van Ruijven, Jasper
A1 York, Larry M.
A1 Mommer, Liesje
YR 2020
UL http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/27/eaba3756.abstract
AB Plant economics run on carbon and nutrients instead of money. Leaf strategies aboveground span an economic spectrum from “live fast and die young” to “slow and steady,” but the economy defined by root strategies belowground remains unclear. Here, we take a holistic view of the belowground economy and show that root-mycorrhizal collaboration can short circuit a one-dimensional economic spectrum, providing an entire space of economic possibilities. Root trait data from 1810 species across the globe confirm a classical fast-slow “conservation” gradient but show that most variation is explained by an orthogonal “collaboration” gradient, ranging from “do-it-yourself” resource uptake to “outsourcing” of resource uptake to mycorrhizal fungi. This broadened “root economics space” provides a solid foundation for predictive understanding of belowground responses to changing environmental conditions.