Daniela F Cusack, Bradley Christoffersen, Chris M Smith-Martin, Kelly M Andersen, Amanda L Cordeiro, Katrin Fleischer, S Joseph Wright, Nathaly R Guerrero-Ramírez, Laynara F Lugli, Lindsay A McCulloch, Mareli Sanchez-Julia, Sarah A Batterman, Caroline Dallstream, Claire Fortunel, Laura Toro, Lucia Fuchslueger, Michelle Y Wong, Daniela Yaffar, Joshua B Fisher, Marie Arnaud, Lee H Dietterich, Shalom D Addo-Danso, Oscar J Valverde-Barrantes, Monique Weemstra, Jing Cheng Ng, Richard J Norby
Tropical forest root characteristics and resource acquisition strategies are underrepresented in vegetation and global models, hampering the prediction of forest-climate feedbacks for these carbon-rich ecosystems. Lowland tropical forests often have globally unique combinations of high taxonomic and functional biodiversity, rainfall seasonality, and strongly weathered infertile soils, giving rise to distinct patterns in root traits and functions compared with higher latitude ecosystems. We provide a roadmap for integrating recent advances in our understanding of tropical forest belowground function into vegetation models, focusing on water and nutrient acquisition...
February 28, 2024: New Phytologist