- Lucia
Fine roots dynamics in Central Amazonian soils
Congratulations to Amanda L. Cordeiro, who just published her first first-author paper in Plant-Environment-Interactions presenting results from her master thesis at INPA in Manaus!!!!
Amanda was measuring fine root dynamics along a soil profile down to a depth of 90 cm using mini-rhizotrons in a tropcial rainforest near Manaus. She was regularly taking pictures from the same tubes in the dry and wet season, and patiently was analyzing incredibly thousands of images of fine roots to trace their birth, grwoth and death. Amanda found that a large proportion of fine roots can be found lower than 30 cm, and moreover showed that the turnover of those deeper roots is lower than on the soil surface - bringing light into the unseen dynamics happening below our feet.
Very well done Amanda, and all the best for your PhD!

Have a look at the article published in Plant-Environment-Interactions
https://doi.org/10.1002/pei3.10010