Dynamics of fine root carbon in Amazonian tropical ecosystems and the contribution of roots to soil respiration

By Susan Trumbore, Enir Salazar da Costa, Daniel C. Nepstad, Plínio Barbosa de Camargo, L. Martinelli, D. Ray, T. Restom, Whendee Silver. 2006

162 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Radiocarbon (14C) provides a measure of the mean age of carbon (C) in roots, or the time elapsed since the C making up root tissues was fixed from the atmosphere. Radiocarbon signatures of live and dead fine (<2 mm diameter) roots in two mature Amazon tropical forests are consistent with average ages of 4–11 years (ranging from <1 to >40 years). Measurements of 14C in the structural tissues of roots known to have grown during 2002 demonstrate that new roots are constructed from recent (<2‐year‐old) photosynthetic products. High Δ14C values in live roots most likely indicate the mean lifetime of the root rather than the isotopic signature of inherited C or C taken up from the soil.

Subfields: Global and Planetary Change, History, Soil Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ac042a25b82411b8f6f58032454a23ff6035bd20

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Global and Planetary Change

1. Joshua B. Fisher
2. Patrick Meir
3. Pete Smith
4. E. Baggs
5. N. Ostle
6. R. Fisher
7. R. Bardgett
8. A. Akinsemolu

In Soil Science

1. N. Ostle
2. R. Bardgett
3. Pete Smith
4. Joshua B. Fisher
5. Patrick Meir
6. E. Baggs
7. R. Fisher
8. Matthias C. Rillig

Citations in the corpus

• Integrating plant–soil interactions into global carbon cycle models (2009, background): “For example, only a small number of studies have provided data on soil hydraulic properties (Hodnett & Tomasella 1997; Belk et al. 2007; Fisher et al. 2008) and on root properties (Trumbore et al. 2006; Metcalfe et al. 2008) in Amazonia.”
• Partitioning the components of soil respiration: a research challenge (2006, background): “The tracing of ‘‘bomb’’ C has also recently been used to estimate autotrophic and heterotrophic sources of soil respiration (Borken et al. 2006; Trumbore et al. 2006).”
• Use of stored carbon reserves in growth of temperate tree roots and leaf buds: analyses using radiocarbon measurements and modeling (2009, unknown): “At the three other forests studied here (one deciduous, two coniferous), and in two broadleaf tropical forests in the Eastern Amazon of Brazil (Trumbore et al., 2006), the mean age of storage C used to grow new roots was o1–2 years.”