Root ecology
The root Ecology is a teaching and research in botanical and ecological plant sciences. The main focus is the study of environmentally relevant location factors in their effects on growth, distribution and deep growth of the plant roots. The physiological processes in the roots are largely the subject of root physiology and are mostly scientifically processed in the field of plant physiology . However, since root growth is controlled by both external and internal factors, a sharp distinction between root ecology and root physiology is not possible.
The external location factors that decisively influence the root growth of plants include light, heat, water, gases ( e.g. oxygen for root breathing ), salts and edaphic soil animals of the rhizosphere . The soil itself is also the subject of investigation in root ecology. B. the influence of soil type , soil type and soil compaction on root growth. In addition, root ecology deals with root competition in the soil, root degradation or humus formation, with root damage through erosion and with the effects of growth substances and other chemicals on the morphology of the roots.
Recommendations for site-appropriate management in agriculture and forestry can be derived from the results of the root ecology. That is why researchers from practical sciences are primarily concerned with ecological root studies. These disciplines include: agricultural crop production, silviculture, fruit growing, vegetable growing, geobotany, plant nutrition, soil science and landscape ecology.
For a long time, root excavation directly at the place where the plants grew was a methodological problem. John Ernest Weaver , Professor of Plant Ecology at the University of Nebraska from 1917 to 1952, deserves credit for improving plant excavation techniques so that the exposed root systems, down to the finest lateral roots, can be described, measured and drawn on the spot. His techniques were further developed into an international standard method by the Austrian botanist Lore Kutschera . There are now a number of different methods for ecological root studies.
Root ecology found its scientific home in the International Society of Root Research, which was founded in Klagenfurt in 1982 under the aegis of Lore Kutschera . The conference volumes published by this specialist society are informative reference works on the current status of root ecology and the other areas of root research.
literature
- John Ernest Weaver: Root Development of Field Crops . McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York 1926.
- Lore Kutschera: Root atlas of Central European arable weeds and cultivated plants . DLG-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1960.
- Friedrich Weller: The spread of the plant roots in the soil depending on genetic and ecological factors. An evaluation of the literature with special consideration of the fruit trees . (= Work of the Hohenheim Agricultural University. Volume 32). Publishing house Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 1965.
- Josef Nikolaus Köstler, Ernst Brückner, Hans Bibelriether: The roots of the forest trees. Investigations on the morphology of forest trees in Central Europe . Paul Parey Publishing House, Berlin / Hamburg 1968.
- Wolfgang Böhm : Methods of Studying Root Systems . (= Ecological Studies. Vol. 33). Springer Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 1979, ISBN 3-540-09329-X . (with a comprehensive bibliography on root ecology).
- Root Ecology and its Practical Application . L. Kutschera, E. Hübl, E. Lichtenegger, H. Persson, M. Sobotik (Eds.): Proceedings of the 3rd Symposium of the International Society of Root Research (ISRR) September 2nd - 6th, 1991 in Vienna, Austria. Association for Root Research , Klagenfurt 1992, ISBN 3-9500203-0-6 .
- AL Smit, AG Bengough, C. Engels, M. van Noordwijk, S. Pellerin, SC van de Geijn (Eds.): Root Methods. A handbook. Springer Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 2000, ISBN 3-540-66728-8 .
- Hans de Kroon, Eric JW Visser (Ed.): Root Ecology. (= Ecological Studies. Vol. 168). Springer Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 2003, ISBN 3-540-00185-9 .