SPRUCE Manual Minirhizotron Images from Experimental Plots Beginning in 2013

Fine roots contribute to ecosystem carbon, water, and nutrient fluxes through resource acquisition, respiration, exudation, and turnover, but are understudied in peatlands. This data set consists of images of fine-root birth, growth, and death collected using non-destructive minirhizotron technology from a warming × CO2 enrichment experiment in a forested, ombrotrophic bog. Minirhizotron images were collected ~ weekly or bi-weekly beginning in 2013 in the 12 SPRUCE experimental plots in paired hummock and hollow microtopography. In each plot, one pair of minirhizotron tubes was installed within a 1.5 m radius of Picea mariana (spruce) or Larix laricina (larch) trees and one pair of minirhizotron tubes was installed in areas dominated by ericaceous shrubs Rhododendron groenlandicum and Chamaedaphne calyculata, for a total of 48 tubes. This dataset contains minirhizotron images from 2013-06-02 through 2021-10-22. Image collections were finished at the end of 2021. Each imaging session (including the treed and non-treed locations, which were collected on different days due to time constraints) resulted in ~4500 image files in JPEG (.jpg) format. Images were collected from 396 sessions (including treed and non-treed sessions) with a total of 1,068,722 JPEG images.