Editors Highlights are summary of the most recent papers published by AGUs journal editor.
Source: Geophysical Research Letters
The difficulty of studying root systems has made it difficult to understand root water uptake, which supports water release into atmosphere (known as transpiration). This is a problem because climate change will likely increase transpiration and reduce precipitation in many places, which could lead to a shortage of water for plants.
Hydrologists and ecologists share a common belief that root water intake and access to groundwater are determined by plant gross similarities (for instance, needle leaf vs. wideleaf; temperate species. vs. Tropical species) or their environment (for instance, the landscape position that determines groundwater’s proximity).
Knighton et al. [2021]We used a global analysis to identify root traits and water signatures in plant tissue to conclude that species’ evolutionary proximity determines root water uptake strategy. Although there are not many data available from tropical forests of high diversity, this research suggests the possibility that the wealth information on species evolutionary proximity can be used to map rootwater uptake strategies for yet unknown species.
Citation: Knighton, J., Fricke, E., Evaristo, J., de Boer, H. J., & Wassen, M. J. [2021]. Groundwater use by trees underpinned by phylogenetics Geophysical Research Letters, 48, e2021GL093858. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL093858
Valeriy Ivanov, Editor, Geophysical Research Letters