Lianas have a faster resource acquisition strategy than trees: belowground evidence from root traits, phylogeny, and the root economics space

1. The competitive advantage of lianas over trees has been widely documented in studies of their leaf functional traits across diverse habitats; however, the relative contribution of root functional traits to the competitive superiority of lianas over trees has not yet been evaluated. The aim of this study was to explore the root functional traits, phylogenetic structure of these traits, and root trait dimensions of lianas to clarify why lianas can outperform trees.
2. We sampled 69 liana species from tropical and temperate forests in China and measured nine key functional traits of first-order roots of each species, including morphological, architectural, anatomical, and chemical traits, as well as the percentage of mycorrhizal colonization. Data on these traits were then compared with similar data of 127 tree species from the same biome obtained from the Global Root Traits (GRooT) database and our previous studies.
3. Liana roots had lower construction costs and could acquire resource...

1. 藤本植物（lianas）相较于乔木的竞争优势，已在多种生境下的叶片功能性状研究中得到广泛证实；然而，根系功能性状对藤本植物相较于乔木的竞争优势的相对贡献，迄今尚未得到评估。本研究旨在探究藤本植物的根系功能性状、这些性状的系统发育结构以及根系性状维度，以阐明藤本植物为何能优于乔木。
2. 本研究从中国的热带与温带森林中采集了69种藤本植物，测定了每个物种一级根的9项关键功能性状，包括形态性状、构型性状、解剖性状、化学性状以及菌根侵染率。随后，将这些性状数据与从全球根系性状（Global Root Traits, GRooT）数据库及本团队前期研究中获取的同一生物群区127种乔木的同类性状数据进行对比。
3. 藤本植物根系具有更低的构建成本，且能够获取资源……