Journal
PLANT CELL AND ENVIRONMENT
Volume 41, Issue 11, Pages 2589-2599Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/pce.13356
Keywords
C sequestration; drought; root biomass; root morphology
Categories
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [31370489, 31600352, 31770559]
- Program for Professor of Special Appointment (Eastern Scholar) at the Shanghai Institutions of Higher Learning
- East China Normal University [YB2016023]
- National Thousand Young Talents Program in China
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Extreme drought is likely to become more frequent and intense as a result of global climate change, which may significantly impact plant root traits and responses (i.e., morphology, production, turnover, and biomass). However, a comprehensive understanding of how drought affects root traits and responses remains elusive. Here, we synthesized data from 128 published studies under field conditions to examine the responses of 17 variables associated with root traits to drought. Our results showed that drought significantly decreased root length and root length density by 38.29% and 11.12%, respectively, but increased root diameter by 3.49%. However, drought significantly increased root:shoot mass ratio and root cortical aerenchyma by 13.54% and 90.7%, respectively. Our results suggest that drought significantly modified root morphological traits and increased root mortality, and the drought-induced decrease in root biomass was less than shoot biomass, causing higher root:shoot mass ratio. The cascading effects of drought on root traits and responses may need to be incorporated into terrestrial biosphere models to improve prediction of the climate-biosphere feedback.
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