AOBPreview originally published online on November 26, 2004
Annals of Botany 2005 95(2):351-361; doi:10.1093/aob/mci033
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Annals of Botany 95/2 © Annals of Botany Company 2004; all rights reserved
Root System Architecture of Quercus pubescens Trees Growing on Different Sloping Conditions
1 Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie per l'Ambiente ed il Territorio, University of Molise, Via Mazzini 8, 86170 Isernia, Italy and 2 Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche ed Ambientali, University of Insubria, Via Valeggio 11, 22100 Como, Italy
* For correspondence. E-mail adiiorio{at}unimol.it
Received: 1 July 2004 Returned for revision: 27 August 2004 Accepted: 30 September 2004 Published electronically: 26 November 2004
• Background and Aims Plant roots' growth direction has important implications for plant development and survival; moreover it plays an effective and vital role in stabilizing weathered soil on a steep slope. The aim of this work was to assess the influence of slope on the architecture of woody root systems.
• Methods Five mature, single-stemmed Quercus pubescens trees growing on a steep slope and five on a shallow slope were excavated to a root diameter of 1 cm. A very precise numeric representation of the geometry and topology of structural root architecture was gained using a low-magnetic-field digitizing device (Fastrak, Polhemus). Several characteristics of root architecture were extracted by macros, including root volume, diameter, length, number, spatial position and branching order.
• Key Results The diameter at breast height (dbh) was the best predictor of the root volume but had no correlation with length and number of roots. The slope affected the root volume for each branching order, and the basal cross-sectional area (CSA), number and length of the first-order roots. Number and length of the second- and third-order laterals were closely related in both conditions, although this relationship was closer in the shallow trees, suggesting the influence of a genetic control. Sloping trees showed a clustering tendency of the first- and second-order lateral roots in the up-slope direction, suggesting that the laterals rather than the taproots provide much of the anchorage. In a steep-slope condition, the taproot tapering was positively correlated with the asymmetry magnitude of first-order roots, indicating compensation between taproot and main lateral roots' clustering tendency.
• Conclusions These results suggest that on a slope, on clayey soils, root asymmetry appears to be a consequence of several environmental factors such as inclination, shallow-slides and soil compactness. In addition, this adaptive growth seems to counteract the turning moment induced by the self-loading forces acting in slope conditions, and as a consequence improves the tree stability.
Key words: Slope, landslides, root system, asymmetry, three-dimensional analysis, Quercus pubescens Willd
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