RESEARCH ARTICLE Unearthing the hidden world of roots: Root biomass and architecture differ among species within the same guild Katherine Sinacore1,2☯*, Jefferson Scott Hall1☯, Catherine Potvin3☯, Alejandro A. Royo4☯, Mark J. Ducey2☯, Mark S. Ashton5☯ 1 ForestGEO, Agua Salud Project, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado, Balboa, AncoÂn, PanamaÂ, PanamaÂ, 2 Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, United States of America, 3 Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, QueÂbec, Canada, 4 Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Forestry Sciences Laboratory, Irvine, a1111111111 Pennsylvania, United States of America, 5 School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, a1111111111 New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America a1111111111 a1111111111 ☯ These authors contributed equally to this work. a1111111111 *
[email protected] Abstract OPEN ACCESS The potential benefits of planting trees have generated significant interest with respect to Citation: Sinacore K, Hall JS, Potvin C, Royo AA, sequestering carbon and restoring other forest based ecosystem services. Reliable esti- Ducey MJ, Ashton MS (2017) Unearthing the mates of carbon stocks are pivotal for understanding the global carbon balance and for hidden world of roots: Root biomass and promoting initiatives to mitigate CO2 emissions through forest management. There are architecture differ among species within the same guild. PLoS ONE 12(10): e0185934. https://doi.org/ numerous studies employing allometric regression models that convert inventory into 10.1371/journal.pone.0185934 aboveground biomass (AGB) and carbon (C). Yet the majority of allometric regression mod- Editor: Shijo Joseph, Kerala Forest Research els do not consider the root system nor do these equations provide detail on the architecture Institute, INDIA and shape of different species.