A mini-rhizotron for studies of plant behaviour and root dynamics

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Plant roots grow generally invisible to observation. Their hidden nature, however, does not equate to a lack of ecological importance. In many systems, such as grasslands, the majority of the living biomass is plant roots, rather than shoots. Changes in root growth dynamics will have important implications for carbon and nitrogen cycling. Even more broadly, the processes by which plant seek out and acquire resources are surprisingly poorly understood, in large part due to the difficulty of experimental observation. As a result, it is unclear how plants will interact with the roots of neighbours, and whether plants segregrate soils or maintain high levels of root overlap. This issue has important consquences for productivity, plant competitive interactions, and the maintenance of biodiversity. To address both of these research areas, I am requesting funds for the purchase of a mini-rhizotron camera system, commonly called a 'root periscope'. The camera allows repeated, non-destructive observations of roots in the soil. These data are then used to estimate root turnover and patterns of root growth. My lab currently has one such camera, though it is now 9 years old and ending the end of its functional life. Improvements in optics have resulted in greatly improved image quality, leading to enhanced precision of data. Failure to acquire a new camera prior to the final failure of the existing camera will have dramatically negative impacts on two major areas of my research program.