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SOIL ECOLOGY

SOIL ECOLOGY. METHODS Mycorrhizas And Roots. 1. SOIL ECOLOGY. References: Coleman et al. 2004. Fundamentals of Soil Ecology. Ch 2 – Primary production processes in soils: roots and rhizosphere associates, and Ch 9 - Laboratory & Field Exercises in Soil Ecology.

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SOIL ECOLOGY

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  1. SOIL ECOLOGY METHODS Mycorrhizas And Roots 1

  2. SOIL ECOLOGY References: Coleman et al. 2004. Fundamentals of Soil Ecology. Ch 2 – Primary production processes in soils: roots and rhizosphere associates, and Ch 9 - Laboratory & Field Exercises in Soil Ecology. Vogt, K. A. et al.1998. Analysis of some direct and indirect methods for estimating root biomass and production of forests at an ecosystem level. Plant and Soil  200(1): 71-89. 2

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  4. Mycorrhizal root tips

  5. Mycorrhizal roots 5

  6. Fungal sclerotia (from Cenococum sp.) The rounded bodies are able to survive periods of adverse environment. They remain dormant or quiescent during the stressful period and then germinate when conditions are more favorable. Sclerotia develop from an initial cluster of hyphae.

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  8. Some Methods of Rootobservation/quantification • Core sampling • In-growth cores • Monoliths • Excavation • Ground-penetrating radar • Isotopes • X-ray imaging • Magnetic resonance imaging • Electrical capacitance • Rhizotrons or root windows • Minirhizotrons

  9. Root excavation for tracking disease in Washington (photo Bob Edmonds) 9

  10. Canada – Root excavation Root growth is extensive – can be 30 meters from base of the tree Roots are traveling to where the nutrients are 10

  11. Soil coring method • Core diameter relative to rocks and root diameter interested in studying. • Rooting depth?, • season?, • biomass and/or productivity?, • number of cores? • Sorting? • Mostly for fine roots, ectomycorrhizas

  12. Using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)to estimate Tree Root Biomass Technique is reliable for mapping large roots in the horizontal plane only. (Butnor et al, 2003) Kurt Johnsen, USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Stationuses an air-knife to remove soil from a loblolly pine root system to check for correlation with GPR. 12

  13. Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) EIS – based on assumption that the capacitance of the root/soil system changes when the contact surface area between roots and the soil increases with growth. Electrical impedance 13

  14. Where do roots/mycorrhizas reside? 14

  15. Minirhizotron Postdoctoral researcher Astrid Volder, left, uses “root boxes” with clear acetate sides to observe how apple trees form the fine roots used to take up nutrients. At right, plant physiologist David Eissenstat inserts a cylindrical video camera into clear tubes embedded into the root system of a Rock Springs apple orchard. The camera records root growth from formation to death. Root box or(root observation windows) http://research.cas.psu.edu/RockSprings/horticulture.html 15

  16. Root box or(root observation windows) Use of “root boxes” with clear acetate sides to observe how apple trees form the fine roots used to take up nutrients. http://research.cas.psu.edu/RockSprings/horticulture.html Studies of Fungi and Roots at Hubbard Brook http://www.hubbardbrook.org/research/current/discipline/soilbiota/hbfungi.htm 16

  17. Minirhizotron Minirhizotron plexiglass tube Camera UCSC Arboretum - P. ponderosa http://ic.ucsc.edu/~wxcheng/wewu/pinusponderosa.htm 17

  18. Minirhizotron Schematic of the minirhizotron tube, plant root system, and camera (inside the tube).http://www.fhsu.edu/biology/ranpers/ert/minirhizotron.htm Aspen FACE Site / MinirhizotronPhoto GalleryUpdated: 8/21/2004 http://ecosystem.mtu.edu/Aspen%20FACE%20Photos/pages/Minirhizotron.htm 18

  19. Roots photographed in a minirhizotron A zone of large woody roots, also near the surface. This image shows a root in transition. The older part, at the top of the image, is reddish-brown. The white part of the root is more recent. 19

  20. New root growth Zoom in on a broken young root tip. Young growing tips with red root in lower right. 20

  21. Temporal analysis – productivity? http://www.regentinstruments.com/products/rhizo/RHIZOTron.html 21

  22. A small worm or large nematode. A frog! A centipede (predator) just beneath the surface of the ground. A small soil arthropod. Other soil biota 22

  23. Other soil biota Notice the cloudy smear on the tube. It appears to be evidence of actinomycete or bacterial activity. Fungal growths, perhaps even associated with the roots in this image. 23

  24. Red Alder nodules – actinomycete fixing atmospheric nitrogen, plant accessing N which limits growth 24

  25. Root - fungal mats accessing nutrients 25

  26. Apogeous roots of Tabonuco climbing up a Sierra palm to acquire stem flow nutrients, Luquillo LTER, Puerto Rico 26

  27. Nodules of nitrogen fixing tree species (e.g. Inga spp.) in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico 27

  28. Roots in streams in Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico 28

  29. Some Methods of Rootobservation/quantification • Core sampling • In-growth cores • Monoliths • Excavation • Ground-penetrating radar • Isotopes • X-ray imaging • Magnetic resonance imaging • Electrical capacitance • Rhizotrons or root windows • Minirhizotrons 29

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