In the context of a recent massive increase in research on plant root functions and their
impact on the environment, root ecologists currently face many important challenges to keep …

Desert species respond strongly to infrequent, intense pulses of precipitation. Consequently,
indigenous flora has developed a rich repertoire of life-history strategies to deal with …

In nutrient poor environments, such as boreal forests, many of the most important
interactions between plants take place belowground. Here, we report the results of two …

While great attention has been paid to the mechanisms controlling plant growth, much less
is known about why and how plants shrink. The modular design of plants may facilitate the …

Models of global climate change predict an increase in the frequency of major droughts, yet
we know little about the consequences of drought for the demography of natural …

The desert flora possesses diverse root architectures that result in fast growth in response to
precipitation. We introduce the short root, a previously undescribed second‐order root in the …

The transformation of sodium arsenite and sodium arsenate by the rhizospheric nitrogen-
fixing bacterium Azospirillum brasilense Sp245 in association with wheat (Triticum aestivum …

Here we test an experimental approach that produces estimates of the location, timing and
extent of water uptake by individual plant species in the field. A tracer injection experiment …

以宁夏沙湖的一个典型的干旱区草本型植物群落——芨芨草(Achnatherum splendens)-
苦豆子(Sophora alopecuroides)(禾草-非禾草型) 群落为研究对象, 自芨芨草 …

Summary 1 Resource pulses generally result in a burst of biological activity at multiple
scales. For plants, the increased activity is generally considered positive due to an overall …