Vertical root distribution of individual species in a mountain grassland community: does it respond to neighbours?

1.Vertical differentiation in root placement is one of the potential mechanisms of plant niche differentiation. It can be due to the remarkable plasticity of roots in response to nutrients and neighbours, but most data on it come from pot or garden experiments. The roles of vertical differentiation and of plasticity in it in the field are thus not well known.

2.We examined species-specific root vertical distribution in a montane grassland using quantitative Real-Time PCR. We asked whether individual species differ in their rooting depths, whether such differences are associated with aboveground functional traits (such as height or specific leaf area), and whether they respond to the presence of a competitor. This response was assessed by comparison of species-specific vertical profiles between control plots and plots where the dominant species, Festuca rubra, had been removed.

3.Vertical profiles of individual species varied considerably, from species with most root biomass concen...