Variation in Root economic strategies in wind exposed alpine ecosystems with wind disturbance exposure
Category: Community Engagement Poster
Author(s): Hailey Tharp
Presenter(s): Hailey Tharp
Mentors(s): Trevor Carter
High winds across the alpine are a persistent disturbance to plant communities in the area. Wind can cause chronic damage to plant tissues and therefore affect how plants best allocate resources and their subsequent strategies of nutrient acquisition. In the face of disturbance plants tend to favor rapid-growth strategies that extend root length and lower root tissue density. To examine how Krummholz tree islands block the wind from understory plant communities, we evaluated variations in the functional traits associated with resource acquisition: specific root length (SRL), root tissue density (RTD), root diameter (RD), root dry matter content (RDMC), root nitrogen concentration (RN), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), specific leaf area (SLA), plant height at maturity (height), and leaf nitrogen concentration (LN). Differences in average trait values were correlated to the position of the understory relative to tree islands. This demonstrates that tree islands that block the wind can alter how wind affects understory community assembly.