DOI: 10.5061/dryad.9ghx3ffqx
title: Data from: Contrasting depth-related fine root plastic responses to soil warming in a subtropical Chinese fir plantation

description: Warming-induced soil drought especially in topsoil may
 enlarge the spatial mismatch between nutrients and water
 along the soil profile, which impedes the uptake of not only
 water but also nutrients by trees. Therefore, coordinating the acquisition
 of soil water and nutrients along the soil profile is an important
 strategy for trees to cope with global warming. This study examined soil
 depth-related changes in nutrient concentrations, biomass, and morphology
 of fine roots in a Chinese fir plantation after 3 years of large-scale
 manipulative soil warming. Soil warming (ambient + 4°C) increased fine
 root nitrogen (N) concentrations but decreased
 fine root phosphorus (P) concentrations across soil depths. Warming did
 not affect total fine root biomass and its vertical distribution. At the
 0–10 cm depth, warming increased specific root length (SRL), specific root
 area (SRA), fine root diameter (RD), and root length density (RLD) but
 reduced root tissue density (RTD). In the 40–60 cm layer, warming reduced
 RD, SRL, and RLD while increasing RTD mainly for roots of the 1–2
 mm diameter class. Synthesis: We concluded that roots of Chinese fir
 plantations could adapt to warming-induced moderate water stress through
 contrasting depth-related root morphological adjustments, probably to
 optimize the acquisition of both soil water and nutrients. The results of
 this study are crucial for understanding the adaptation strategies of
 subtropical forests under future climate conditions.
description: # Data from: Contrasting depth-related fine root plastic responses to soil
 warming in a subtropical Chinese fir plantation Dataset DOI:
 * Authors: Linqiao Jia *
 Email: * Address: num. 32 in Qishan Road,
 Fujian Normal University, Minhou country, Fuzhou, 350007. * Other
 contributors: Qi Jiang, Jie Sun, David Robinson, Zhijie Yang, Xiaodong
 Yao, Xiaohong Wang, Xilin Dai, Tingting Chen, Dongmei Wu, Ailian Fan,
 Liuming Yang, Guangshui Chen, and Yusheng Yang. * Organization: Fujian
 Sanming Forest Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, School
 of Geographical Sciences, Fujian Normal University. **Methodological
 Information** * Methods of data collection/generation: A randomized
 complete block design was used in this soil warming experiment. And there
 were two treatments: soil warming (ambient +4 °C) and the control
 (ambient), each with five replicate 15 m × 15 m plots. The sampling depth
 was divided into four layers: 0–10 cm, 10–20 cm, 20–40 cm, and 40–60 cm.
 Due to the heavy labor demand, only fine roots from the 0–10 cm and 40–60
 cm layer, as representatives of the topsoil (0–20 cm) and subsoil layer
 (20–60 cm), respectively, were analyzed for root morphology and nutrient
 concentrations. * Geographic locations of data collection: Fujian Sanming
 Forest Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, Fujian
 Province, China **Description of the data and file structure** * This
 dataset has one EXCEL. xls file with 8 sheets supporting the figures in
 the article. **The fllowing are a brief summary of dataset contents,
 contextualized in experimental procedures and results** **For
 abbreviations of variables in the sheet named Fig. 1** In each plot, soil
 temperature sensors (F109, Campbell Scientific Inc., Logan, UT, USA; three
 per control plot and six per warming plot) and soil moisture probes
 (CS616, Campbell Scientific, Logan, UT, USA; two per control plot and four
 per warming plot) were placed between two cables at a depth of 10 cm. In
 three of the five plots per treatment, one additional pair of temperature
 and moisture sensors were placed at depths of 20 cm, 40 cm and 60 cm,
 respectively. Soil temperature and moisture were recorded at 1h intervals.
 In this study, we mainly focused on the soil temperature and moisture of
 0-10 cm and 40-60 cm in each month of 2018. SE1 represents the standard
 error of soil temperature, and SE2 represents the standard error of soil
 moisture. **For abbreviations of variables in the sheet named Fig.2 and
 Fig.4** All living roots (including 0–1 mm and 1–2 mm diameter classes) of
 0-10 cm and 40-60 cm depths collected from the soil cores were scanned
 (Epson Perfection V370 at a resolution of 300 dpi), then dried to a
 constant weight at 65 °C to obtain dry weights. And then we have
 determined the fine root nitrogen concentration (mg g-1) (FRN), fine root
 phosphorus concentration (mg g-1) (FRP), the nitrogen and phosphorus
 stoichiometric ratio of fine root (FR_N:P), specific root length (m g-1)
 (SRL), specific root area (cm2 g-1) (SRA), and root tissue density (g
 cm-3) (RTD) in the warming and control treatments. **For abbreviations of
 variables in the sheet named Fig.3a, Fig.3b, Fig.3c, and Fig.3d** The
 living roots of 0-10 cm, 10-20 cm, 20-40 cm and 40-60 cm depth were
 classified into diameter classes of 0–1 mm, and 1–2 mm. We have determined
 the fine root biomass (kg m-3) (FRB) grouped by soil layer only (Fig.3a),
 grouped by diameter classes only (Fig.3b), pooled by soil layer and
 diameter class (Fig.3c), and the cumulative fraction of fine root biomass
 (Fig.3d) in the warming and control treatments. Curves were fitted by the
 asymptotic equation. **For abbreviations of variables in the sheet named
 Fig.5** Total fine root lengths (with roots of 0–1 mm and 1–2 mm diameter
 classes pooled) of the same depth from the same treatment were grouped
 into 40 diameter bins at intervals of 0.05 mm for the regression of root
 diameter class length distributions (DCLD). And to test the effects of
 soil warming on fine root total length and diameter, we have used the
 “Extreme Value” model to fit the root diameter class length distributions
 (DCLD) at the 0–10 cm and 40–60 cm layers. Note that the Y value in E284
 is defined as an outlier at the time of analysis.