Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T09:22:36.234Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Belowground structure and determinants of woody plant height at a tropical dry forest site in Zambia, southern Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 June 2022

Emmanuel N. Chidumayo Open the ORCID record for Emmanuel N. Chidumayo [Opens in a new window]
Emmanuel N. Chidumayo*
Affiliation:
Makeni Savanna Research Project, P.O. Box 50323, Lusaka, Zambia
*
Author for correspondence: Emmanuel N. Chidumayo, Emails: [email protected]; [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Root metrics and plant height for 256 excavated saplings and small trees of 27 species, including sown plants, were used to describe belowground structure and assess factors that influence shoot growth in a tropical dry forest (TDF) in Zambia. Models were developed to (i) estimate taproot depth from incomplete excavations and (ii) coarse lateral root biomass from proximal diameter data. The majority of the species studied are slow-growing and had a median height of <200 cm at the age of 16 years. Root development advanced sequentially from taproot elongation to thickening to coarse lateral root development. Shrubs in shallow soil had short taproots with a lower wood density. Plant age explained <10% of the variance in shoot height. Root variables explained the majority of the variance in shoot height. More research is needed to improve our knowledge about how belowground structures influence shoot growth and tree recruitment in TDFs of southern Africa.

Keywords

biomassroot systemsshoot heightshrubssoil depthtreesZambia
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 38 , Issue 6 , November 2022 , pp. 401 - 409
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature cited

Analytical Software (1985–2008) Statistix 9.0. Tallahassee: Analytical Software. 454 pp.Google Scholar
Bengough, AG, Mckenzie, BM, Hallett, PD and Valentine, TA (2011) Root elongation, water stress, and mechanical impedance: a review of limiting stresses and beneficial root tip traits. Journal of Experimental Botany 62, 59–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bond, WJ (2008) What limits trees in C4 grasslands and savannas? Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 39, 641–659.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burnham, K and Anderson, DR (2002) Model Selection and Multimodel Inference: A Practical Information-Theoretic Approach. New York: Springer-Verlag. 488 pp.Google Scholar
Chave, J, Andalo, C, Brown, S, Cairns, MA, Chambers, JQ, Eamus, D, Fölster, H, Fromard, F, Higuchi, N, Kira, T, Lescure, J-P, Nelson, BW, Ogawa, H, Puig, H, Riéra, B and Yamakura, T (2005) Tree allometry and improved estimation of carbon stocks and balance in tropical forests. Oecologia 145, 87–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chidumayo, EN (2013a) Effects of seed burial and fire on seedling and sapling recruitment, survival and growth of African savanna woody plant species. Plant Ecology 214, 103–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chidumayo, EN (2013b) Estimating tree biomass and changes in root biomass following clear-cutting of Brachystegia-Julbernardia (miombo) woodland in central Zambia. Environmental Conservation 41, 54–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrar, JF and Jones, DL (2000) The control of carbon acquisition by roots. New Phytologist 147, 43–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freschet, G, Pagès, L, Iversen, C, Comas, L, Rewald, B and others (2021a) A starting guide to root ecology: strengthening ecological concepts and standardizing root classification, sampling, processing and trait measurements. New Phytologist 232, 973–1122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freschet, GT, Roumet, C, Comas, LH, Weemstra, M, Bengough, AG, Rewald, B and others (2021b) Root traits as drivers of plant and ecosystem functioning: current understanding, pitfalls and future research needs. New Phytologist 232, 1123–1158.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Higgins, SI, Bond, WJ and Trollope, WSW (2000) Fire, resprouting and variability: a recipe for grass–tree coexistence in savanna. Journal of Ecology 88, 213–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kachamba, DJ, Eid, T and Gobakken, T (2016) Above-and belowground biomass models for trees in the miombo woodlands of Malawi. Forests 7, 38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laris, P, Dadashi, S, Jo, A and Wechsler, S (2016) Buffering the savanna: fire regimes and disequilibrium ecology in West Africa. Plant Ecology 217, 583–596.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mokany, K, Raison, RJ and Prokushkin, AS (2006) Critical analysis of root: shoot ratios in terrestrial biomes. Global Change Biology 12, 84–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mugasha, WA, Eid, T, Bollandsås, OM, Malimbwi, RE, Chamshama, SAO, Zahabu, E and Katani, JZ (2013) Allometric models for prediction of above- and belowground biomass of trees in the miombo woodlands of Tanzania. Forest Ecology and Management 310, 87–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ngoma, J, Moors, E, Kruijt, B, Speer, JH, Vinya, R, Chidumayo, EN and Leemans, R (2018) Below and above-ground carbon distribution along a rainfall gradient. A case of the Zambezi teak forests, Zambia. Acta Oecologica 87, 45–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pate, JS and Bell, TL (1999) Application of the ecosystem mimic concept to the species-rich Banksia woodlands of Western Australia. Agroforestry Systems 45, 303–341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, D (2004) Scaling the depths: below-ground allocation in plants, forests and biomes. Functional Ecology 18, 290–295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, CM, Williams, M and Grace, J (2011) Above- and belowground carbon stocks in a miombo woodland landscape of Mozambique. Biotropica 43, 423–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sankaran, M and Ratnam, J (2013) African and Asian savannas. Encyclopedia of Biodiversity 1, 58–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sankaran, M, Ratnam, J and Hanan, NP (2004) Tree–grass coexistence in savannas revisited – insights from an examination of assumptions and mechanisms invoked in existing models. Ecology Letters 7, 480–490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wakeling, JL, Staver, AC and Bond, WJ (2011) Simply the best: the transition of savanna saplings to trees. Oikos 120, 1448–1451.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, F (1962) The Forest Flora of Northern Rhodesia. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 455 pp.Google Scholar
White, F (1983) The Vegetation of Africa. Paris: Unesco. 356 pp.Google Scholar
Zhou, Y, Wigley, BJ, Case, MF, Coetsee, C and Staver, AC (2020) Rooting depth as a key woody functional trait in savannas. New Phytologist. DOI: 10.1111/nph.16613.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed