TY  - JOUR
A1  - Heinze, Johannes
T1  - Herbivory by aboveground insects impacts plant root morphological traits
T2  - Plant ecology : an international journal
N2  - Aboveground herbivory induces physiological responses, like the release of belowground chemical defense and storage of secondary metabolites, as well as physical responses in plants, like increased root biomass production. However, studies on effects of aboveground herbivory on root morphology are scarce and until now no study tested herbivory effects under natural conditions for a large set of plant species. Therefore, in a field experiment on plant-soil interactions, I investigated the effect of aboveground insect herbivory on root morphological traits of 20 grassland plant species. For 9 of the 20 species, all individuals showed shoot damage in the presence of insect herbivores, but no damage in insect herbivore exclusions. In these 9 species root biomass increased and root morphological traits changed under herbivory towards thinner roots with increased specific root surface. In contrast, the remaining species did not differ in the number of individuals damaged, root biomass nor morphological traits with herbivores present vs. absent. The fact that aboveground herbivory resulted in thinner roots with increased specific root surface area for all species in which the herbivore exclusion manipulation altered shoot damage might indicate that plants increase nutrient uptake in response to herbivory. However, more importantly, results provide empirical evidence that aboveground herbivory impacts root morphological traits of plants. As these traits are important for the occupation of soil space, uptake processes, decomposition and interactions with soil biota, results suggest that herbivory-induced changes in root morphology might be of importance for plant-soil feedbacks and plant-plant competition.
KW  - herbivory
KW  - root traits
KW  - specific root length
KW  - specific root surface
KW  - area
KW  - plant-soil feedback
KW  - competition
Y1  - 2020
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/57891
SN  - 1385-0237
SN  - 1573-5052
VL  - 221
IS  - 8
SP  - 725
EP  - 732
PB  - Springer
CY  - Dordrecht
ER  -