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Tree fine root longevity and effects of soil waterlogging, a constraining environmental factor
Timo Domisch  1@  , Jouni Kilpeläinen  2@  
1 : Natural Resources Institute Finland  (Luke)
2 : Natural Resources Institute Finland  (Luke)

For studying constraining effects of adverse soil conditions (here soil waterlogging) on tree fine root survival, results from four different experiments conducted in the Joensuu Root Laboratory were combined in this work. They differed in duration and tree species, but they had a common treatment (WL) with different timing and duration. All treatments comprised also a control (CTRL) treatment without any constraining factor. Using this approach, we can compare different treatments withing the same tree species, or different tree species with a similar treatment. All experiments assessed the effects of WL of different timing and length, three of them with Scots pine and one with silver birch. We conducted survival analyses of short roots from minirhizotron images, using the time frames of individual short roots from appearance to disappearance as previously identified and analysed. Our results showed that birch roots had a significantly shorter lifespan than pine roots. Waterlogged soil conditions during the dormant season did not have any clear effects on root survival, whereas WL significantly decreased the median survival times when the WL treatment occurred during the growing season. By combining results from different experiments conducted in the Root Laboratory, we can provide new information for a better understanding of processes.


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