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Rooting depth and above-ground community composition in Kalahari sand woodlands in western Zimbabwe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2008

Ricardo M. Holdo  and
Jonathan Timberlake
Ricardo M. Holdo
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
Jonathan Timberlake
Affiliation:
Biodiversity Foundation for Africa, P.O. Box FM 730, Famona, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond TW9 3AB, UK
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Abstract:

The pattern of coarse-root distribution was analysed in the woody plant community along a 200-m edaphic gradient on a Kalahari sand woodland catena in Zimbabwe. The root systems of 45 trees and shrubs were excavated, mapped, and digitized to analyse rooting depth and architecture. Patterns of change in the above-ground community were also identified along this transect. Rooting depth increased, and the centre of mass of the root profile shifted towards the maximum rooting depth as a function of distance up the catena. The data also suggest that interspecific variation in rooting depth may increase up the catena. The below-ground pattern was accompanied by above-ground changes: species richness and basal area also increased up the catena. It is hypothesized that increasing soil depth allows greater coexistence of alternative water-use strategies, resulting in the observed increase in species richness up the catena.

Keywords

Baikiaea plurijugaBrachystegia spiciformiscatenacommunity assemblyroot architecturerooting profilessoil depthspecies turnovertree diversity
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , March 2008 , pp. 169 - 176
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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