The Neglected Belowground Dimension of Plant Dominance

Gianluigi Ottaviani; Rafael Molina-Venegas; Tristan Charles-Dominique; Stefano Chelli; Giandiego Campetella; Roberto Canullo; Jitka Klimešová

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2020.06.006

The Neglected Belowground Dimension of Plant Dominance

Trends Ecol Evol. 2020 Sep;35(9):763-766. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2020.06.006. Epub 2020 Jul 7.

Authors

Gianluigi Ottaviani¹, Rafael Molina-Venegas², Tristan Charles-Dominique³, Stefano Chelli⁴, Giandiego Campetella⁴, Roberto Canullo⁴, Jitka Klimešová⁵

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Třeboň, 37982, Czech Republic. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Global Change Ecology and Evolution Group (GLoCEE), Department of Life Sciences, Universidad de Alcalá, Madrid, 28805, Spain.
³ CNRS, UMR 7618, Sorbonne University, Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Paris, 75005, France.
⁴ School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, Camerino University, Camerino, 62032, Italy.
⁵ Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Třeboň, 37982, Czech Republic; Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Praha, 12800, Czech Republic.

PMID: 32650986
DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2020.06.006

Abstract

Dominants are key species that shape ecosystem functioning. Plant dominance is typically assessed on aboveground features. However, belowground, individual species may not scale proportionally in relation to their aboveground dimension. This is especially important in ecosystems where most biomass is allocated belowground, including grassy and shrubby biomes.

Keywords: belowground organs; biomass allocation; biomass scaling; ecosystem functioning; local abundance.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Biomass
Ecosystem*
Plant Roots
Plants*