Nutrient uptake by intact tree roots
CALHOUN, SC; HUBBARD BROOK EXPERIMENTAL FOREST, NH
Nutrient Uptake by Trees, Dissertation Research, 2000- 2005
Despite numerous studies showing intact roots and mycorrhizas are critical for obtaining realistic rates of nutrient uptake, most plant physiologists conduct uptake studies with excised roots or plants with severed mycorrhizal hyphae. My dissertation documented seasonal changes in uptake of mature, intact loblolly pine roots at Calhoun Experimental Forest, SC (Lucash et al. 2005). I also developed a sand-culture method, which allowed nutrient uptake of tree seedlings to be measured while minimizing disturbance to the root system (Lucash et al. 2008). In collaboration with several other researchers, I wrote a review paper to draw attention to the problems with our existing methods for measuring nutrient uptake of trees (Lucash et al. 2007) and outlined ways to improve the representation of root processes in earth system models (Smithwick et al. 2014).