DOI: 10.5061/dryad.69p8cz98c
title: Decoupling of uptake and transport-related traits in absorptive roots across coexisting herbaceous species in alpine meadows

description: The anatomical structure of roots determines their function. Coexisting
 species complementarily forage nutrients by roots themselves (e.g., root
 strategy) and their fungal partners (e.g., mycorrhizal strategy), leading
 to a tradeoff between root strategy and mycorrhizal strategy. However, few
 studies have specifically evaluated whether and how the root anatomical
 structures are involved in this tradeoff, especially for species in alpine
 ecosystems limited by extreme climate.Here, absorptive root anatomical and
 chemical traits and three key root traits commonly associated with
 nutrient foraging strategies, i.e., root strategy indicated by first-order
 root length and root branching intensity and mycorrhizal strategy
 indicated by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal colonization, were examined
 across 68 herbaceous species in alpine meadows of the Tibetan Plateau.We
 observed that absorptive roots with higher branching intensity had more
 protoxylem poles, thinner cortices and smaller cortical cells, whereas
 absorptive roots with higher mycorrhizal colonization and longer
 first-order roots consistently had thicker cortices and larger cortical
 cells. Unexpectedly, root cortical traits responsible for nutrient uptake
 were decoupled from stelar traits specialized in water and nutrient
 transportation. The decoupling may be related to the non-coordinated
 changes in soil water and nutrient availability in the meadows of the
 Tibetan Plateau. In addition, we found that root cortical thickness and
 stelar radius increased at a similar rate rather than well-reported
 different rates with increasing root diameter. Our results
 demonstrate that root internal makeup plays an integral role in forming
 the diverse nutrient foraging strategies in belowground. These findings
 provide new insights into our understanding of plant coexistence and
 responses of alpine meadows to climate change on the Tibetan Plateau.
description: <strong>Abstract</strong>
   In this study we measured the
 anatomical traits, morphological traits and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal
 colonization of absorptive roots of 68 herbaceous species in alpine
 meadows of the Tibetan Plateau.   
 <strong>Usage notes</strong>
   These data were collected in alpine
 meadows of the Tibetan Plateau. Three sites are selected. Site 1 was in
 Hongyuan County, Sichuan Province, and Sites 2 and 3 were in Gannan
 Grassland Ecosysstem National Obervation and Research Station, Gansu
 Province, P.R., China.  Details for each dataset are provided in the
 README file.  
 <strong>Datasets included:</strong>
   All root trait data collected in this
 study. Columns include species names, family names, plant growth form, and
 root traits. Abbreviations and units are as follows. Root diameter (RD,
 μm), cortical thickness (CT, μm), cortical cell diameter (CCDM, μm),
 cortical cell density (CCDS,×10<sup>2</sup>
 mm<sup>-2</sup>), stelar diameter (SD,μm), vessel diameter
 (VDM,μm), vessel density, (VDS,×10<sup>2</sup>
 mm<sup>-2</sup>), protoxylem pole number (PXP), nitrogen
 concentration(NC, %), carbon concentration (CC, %), root branching
 intensity(BI, cm<sup>-1</sup>), first-order root length (RL,
 cm), mycorrhizal colonization (MC, %).
description: # Decoupling of uptake- and transport-related traits in absorptive roots
 across coexisting herbaceous species in alpine meadows
 ## Description of the data
 and file structure **Trait abbreviations and units:** RD (μm): root
 diameter; CT (μm): Cortical thickness; CCDM (μm): cortical cell diameter ;
 CCDS (×102 mm-2): cortical cell density; SD (μm): stelar diameter; VDM
 (μm): vessel diameter; VDS (×102 mm-2): vessel density; PXP: protoxylem
 pole number; NC (%): nitrogen concentration; CC (%): carbon concentration;
 BI (cm-1): root branching intensity; RL (cm): first-order root length; MC
 (%): mycorrhizal colonization