Ecological Archives C006-029-A3

Frances C. O'Donnell, Kelly K. Caylor, Abinash Bhattachan, Kebonye Dintwe, and Gregory S. Okin. 2015. A quantitative description of the interspecies diversity of belowground structure in savanna woody plants. Ecosphere 6:154. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/es14-00310.1

Appendix C. Individual statistics for excavated trees.

The aboveground and belowground measurements made on each excavated tree are given in Table C1. The parameters of the functions fit to the vertical and lateral distribution of coarse root biomass of each individual and the descriptive values determined from these functions are given in Table C2.

Table C1. Aboveground and belowground measurements of excavated trees.

Site

Species

Height (m)

Canopy Diameter (m)

Basal
Area (cm²)†

Number
of stems†

Diameter of
Taproot at
1.5 m (mm)

Wet

O. pulchra

2.8

1.2

67

1

Wet

O. pulchra

3.5

1.8

127

1

Wet

O. pulchra

3.6

1.9

54

1

Wet

T. sericea

5.4

5.0

158

1

6

Wet

T. sericea

7.8

5.1

287

1

13

Wet

T. sericea

3.0

3.0

61

3

4

Int.

T. sericea

2.5

3.1

157

4

17

Int.

T. sericea

2.2

3.7

143

6

3

Int.

T. sericea

3.3

3.6

105

6

10

Int.

A. mellifera

3.2

4.9

185

4

21

Int.

A. mellifera

2.1

3.6

76

4

31

Int.

A. mellifera

2.2

3.9

136

6

23

Dry

A. mellifera

1.8

2.3

74

11

21

Dry

A. mellifera

1.9

3.5

62

6

19

Dry

A. mellifera

1.9

2.7

39

6

15

Dry

B. albitrunca

3.5

5.6

502

1

Dry

B. albitrunca

2.5

3.1

140

1

Dry

B. albitrunca

3.0

2.3

26

1

†Excluding stems < 1 cm basal diameter.

 

Table C2. Aboveground and belowground mass of excavated trees.

Site

Species

Aboveground Mass (kg)

Root Crown Mass (kg)

Lateral Root Mass (kg)†

Root to Shoot Ratio

Wet

O. pulchra

5.2

2.1

1.9

0.8

Wet

O. pulchra

6.7

2.5

4.2

1.0

Wet

O. pulchra

2.8

1.3

1.2

0.9

Wet

T. sericea

25.9

14.7

Wet

T. sericea

47.0

5.8

37.2

0.9

Wet

T. sericea

3.78

2.7

7.5

2.7

Int.

T. sericea

13.0

1.7

28.2

2.3

Int.

T. sericea

12.6

3.6

21.3

2.0

Int.

T. sericea

12.3

3.3

17.3

1.7

Int.

A. mellifera

61.9

4.4

10.8

0.25

Int.

A. mellifera

38.9

2.3

13.5

0.41

Int.

A. mellifera

24.1

2.0

6.7

0.36

Dry

A. mellifera

18.6

1.4

2.5

0.21

Dry

A. mellifera

21.6

0.9

2.1

0.14

Dry

A. mellifera

9.9

1.1

2.2

0.33

Dry

B. albitrunca

94.5

32.0

39.1

0.8

Dry

B. albitrunca

29.9

8.3

29.8

1.3

Dry

B. albitrunca

21.0

4.4

52.8

2.7

†Extrapolated from exponential or gamma functions (Table C3) fit to distribution of biomass with depth.

 

Table C3. Parameters of exponential functions fit to coarse root biomass with radial distance from stem (r) and exponential (T. sericea and A. mellifera) or gamma (O. pulchra and B. albitrunca) functions fit to coarse root distribution with depth (z). Parameter estimates are given ± the 95% confidence interval.

Site

Species

Radial Distribution

Vertical Distribution

ar

br

Root Mean
Square Error (kg)

az

bz

Root Mean
Square Error (kg)

Wet

O. pulchra

6.6 ± 0.8

1.8 ± 0.2

0.08

4.0 ± 3.1

0.11 ± 0.09

0.2

Wet

O. pulchra

12.7 ± 1.8

1.6 ± 0.3

0.25

3.5 ± 2.0

0.13 ± 0.07

0.3

Wet

O. pulchra

7.7 ± 1.9

3.4 ± 0.9

0.07

5.0 ± 1.7

0.10 ± 0.04

0.1

Wet

T. sericea

11.1 ± 0.3

0.44 ± 0.2

0.43

61.3 ± 14.5

2.7 ± 0.6

0.0

Wet

T. sericea

21.5 ± 0.4

0.34 ± 0.01

0.77

212.1 ± 46.2

3.4 ± 1.0

2.0

Wet

T. sericea

9.0 ± 0.2

0.72 ± 0.02

0.11

41.5  ± 7.3

3.3 ± 0.7

0.43

Int.

T. sericea

18.1 ± 0.7

0.37 ± 0.02

0.90

109.3 ± 18.2

2.3 ± 0.4

0.0

Int.

T. sericea

10.5 ± 0.4

0.27 ± 0.01

0.62

154.6 ± 9.3

4.3 ± 0.3

0.4

Int.

T. sericea

10.1 ± 0.3

0.33 ± 0.01

0.42

215.5 ± 7.6

7.4 ± 0.3

0.1

Int.

A. mellifera

8.4 ± 0.2

0.45 ± 0.01

0.19

61.0 ± 5.8

3.1 ± 0.4

0.3

Int.

A. mellifera

5.8 ± 0.4

0.27 ± 0.02

0.77

37.7 ± 11.8

1.5 ± 0.8

1.6

Int.

A. mellifera

6.6 ± 0.3

0.55 ± 0.03

0.24

32.1 ± 2.5

2.7 ± 0.3

0.2

Dry

A. mellifera

3.1 ± 0.2

0.66 ± 0.05

0.11

18.9 ± 3.1

4.2 ± 0.8

0.1

Dry

A. mellifera

2.9 ± 0.2

0.84 ± 0.08

0.08

9.0 ± 2.0

2.4 ± 0.8

0.1

Dry

A. mellifera

1.9 ± 0.2

0.48 ± 0.06

0.12

16.0 ± 0.4

4.0 ± 0.1

0.0

Dry

B. albitrunca

78.5 ± 7.9

0.82 ± 0.09

4.0

10.5 ± 2.6

0.09 ± 0.02

2.2

Dry

B. albitrunca

19.9 ± 2.1

0.49 ± 0.07

1.5

7.7 ± 4.4

0.20 ± 0.17

0.8

Dry

B. albitrunca

60.7 ± 4.9

0.44 ± 0.05

4.8

8.0 ± 6.2

0.10 ± 0.08

0.9

 

Table C4. Parameters describing the describing the spatial distribution of coarse root biomass of excavated trees.

Site

Species

r90 (m)

z90 (m)

r90:z90

Fraction
under canopy

Wet

O. pulchra

1.3

0.72

1.8

0.67

Wet

O. pulchra

1.4

0.75

1.9

0.77

Wet

O. pulchra

0.7

0.81

0.84

0.96

Wet

T. sericea

5.3

0.87

6.1

0.67

Wet

T. sericea

6.9

0.68

10.0

0.58

Wet

T. sericea

3.2

0.70

4.5

0.66

Int.

T. sericea

6.3

1.0

6.2

0.44

Int.

T. sericea

8.6

0.54

16.0

0.39

Int.

T. sericea

7.0

0.31

22.4

0.45

Int.

A. mellifera

5.2

0.74

7.0

0.67

Int.

A. mellifera

8.7

1.5

5.8

0.38

Int.

A. mellifera

4.2

0.86

4.9

0.66

Dry

A. mellifera

3.5

0.55

6.4

0.53

Dry

A. mellifera

2.7

0.98

2.8

0.77

Dry

A. mellifera

4.8

0.58

8.3

0.48

Dry

B. albitrunca

2.8

1.3

2.2

0.9

Dry

B. albitrunca

4.7

2.2

2.1

0.53

Dry

B. albitrunca

5.3

1.1

4.7

0.4


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