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1. Data from TropiRoot 1.0 database: tropical root characteristics across environments

   https://doi.org/10.15485/2507279  

   Cordeiro, Amanda L; Cusack, Daniela F; Guerrero-Ramírez, Nathaly; Norby, Richard J; Toro, Laura; Wong, Michelle Y; Wright, S Joseph; Cabugao, Kristine_Grace M; Andersen, Kelly M; Fuchslueger, Lucia; et al (January 2025, Environmental System Science Data Infrastructure for a Virtual Ecosystem; Synthesis of existing tropical root data: How do natural, episodic disturbances alter tropical forest carbon cycles via changes in belowground dynamics?)

   TropiRoot 1.0 is a new tropical root database with root characteristics across environment gradients. It has data extracted from 104 new sources, resulting in more than 8000 rows of data (either species or community data). Most of the data in TropiRoot 1.0 includes root characteristics such as root biomass, morphology, root dynamics, mass fraction, architecture, anatomy, physiology and root chemistry. This initiative represents an approximately 30% increase in the currently available data for tropical roots in the Fine Root Ecology Database (FRED). TropiRoot 1.0, contains root characteristics from 25 different countries where seven are located in Asia, six in South America, five in Central America and the Caribbean, four in Africa, two in North America, and 1 in Oceania. Due to the volume of data, when ancillary data was available, including soil data, these data was either extracted and included in the database or their availability was recorded in an additional column. Multiple contributors checked the entries for outliers during the collation process to ensure data quality. For text-based observations, we examined all cells to ensure that their content relates to their specific categories. For numerical observations, we ordered each numerical value from least to greatest and plotted the values, checking apparent outliers against the data in their respective sources and correcting or removing incorrect or impossible values. Some data (soil and aboveground) have different columns for the same variable presented in different units, including originally published units, but root characteristics data had units converted to match the ones reported in FRED. By filling a gap from global databases, TropiRoot 1.0 expands our knowledge of otherwise so far underrepresented regions, and our ability to assess global trends. This advancement can be used to improve tropical forest representation in vegetation models. 

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2. Tropical root responses to global changes: A synthesis

   https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17420  

   Yaffar, Daniela; Lugli, Laynara F; Wong, Michelle Y; Norby, Richard J; Addo‐Danso, Shalom D; Arnaud, Marie; Cordeiro, Amanda L; Dietterich, Lee H; Diaz‐Toribio, Milton H; Lee, Ming Y; et al (July 2024, Global Change Biology)

   Abstract Tropical ecosystems face escalating global change. These shifts can disrupt tropical forests' carbon (C) balance and impact root dynamics. Since roots perform essential functions such as resource acquisition and tissue protection, root responses can inform about the strategies and vulnerabilities of ecosystems facing present and future global changes. However, root trait dynamics are poorly understood, especially in tropical ecosystems. We analyzed existing research on tropical root responses to key global change drivers: warming, drought, flooding, cyclones, nitrogen (N) deposition, elevated (e) CO₂, and fires. Based on tree species‐ and community‐level literature, we obtained 266 root trait observations from 93 studies across 24 tropical countries. We found differences in the proportion of root responsiveness to global change among different global change drivers but not among root categories. In particular, we observed that tropical root systems responded to warming and eCO₂by increasing root biomass in species‐scale studies. Drought increased the root: shoot ratio with no change in root biomass, indicating a decline in aboveground biomass. Despite N deposition being the most studied global change driver, it had some of the most variable effects on root characteristics, with few predictable responses. Episodic disturbances such as cyclones, fires, and flooding consistently resulted in a change in root trait expressions, with cyclones and fires increasing root production, potentially due to shifts in plant community and nutrient inputs, while flooding changed plant regulatory metabolisms due to low oxygen conditions. The data available to date clearly show that tropical forest root characteristics and dynamics are responding to global change, although in ways that are not always predictable. This synthesis indicates the need for replicated studies across root characteristics at species and community scales under different global change factors. 

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3. Tropical root traits in response to global changes from 1984 to 2023

   https://doi.org/10.15486/ngt/2382698  

   Yaffar, Daniela; Lugli, Laynara F; Wong, MIchelle Y; Norby, Rich; Addo-Danso, Shalom D; Arnaud, Marie; Longhi_Cordeiro, Amanda; Dietterich, Lee H; Diaz-Toribio, Milton H; Lee, Ming Y; et al (January 2024, Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments Tropics; Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

   This dataset is a compilation of tropical root traits data in response to different global changes in tropical sites, considering 23.50N and S as latitudinal boundaries. The global changes considered are warming, drought, flooding, cyclones, nitrogen addition, CO2 fertilization, and fire. This dataset contains 266 root trait observations from 93 studies across 24 tropical countries. The full citation from where the data was taken from is provided in the dataset, as well as the global change, the ecosystem type, location, coordinates, the root traits measured, and the direction of their response after the global change. Additional information such as the duration of the experiment, the intensity of the global change, the soil layers from where the roots were collected, the root orders, and the type of experiment are also shown. We obtained this dataset by performing a systematic literature review on Web of Science using standardized keywords in English, Spanish, and Portuguese (Yaffar, Lugli et al. in press). 

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4. MoveTraits —A Database for Integrating Animal Behaviour Into Trait‐Based Ecology

   https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70297  

   Beumer, Larissa T; Hertel, Anne G; Royauté, Raphaël; Tucker, Marlee A; Albrecht, Jörg; Beltran, Roxanne S; Cagnacci, Francesca; Davidson, Sarah C; Dejid, Nandintsetseg; Kays, Roland; et al (January 2026, Ecology Letters)

   ABSTRACT Trait‐based approaches are key to understanding eco‐evolutionary processes but rarely account for animal behaviour despite its central role in ecosystem dynamics. We propose integrating behaviour into trait‐based ecology through movement traits—standardised and comparable measures of animal movement derived from biologging data, such as daily displacements or range sizes. Accounting for animal behaviour will advance trait‐based research on species interactions, community structure and ecosystem functioning. Importantly, movement traits allow for quantification of behavioural reaction norms, offering insights into species’ acclimation and adaptive capacity to environmental change. We outline a vision for a ‘living’ global movement trait database that enhances trait data curation by (1) continuously growing alongside shared biologging data, (2) calculating traits directly from individual‐level data using standardised, consistent methodology and (3) providing information on multi‐level (species, individual, within‐individual) trait variation. We present a proof‐of‐concept ‘MoveTraits’ database with 52 mammal and 97 bird species, demonstrating calculation workflows for 5 traits across multiple timescales. Movement traits have significant potential to improve trait‐based global change predictions and contribute to global biodiversity assessments as Essential Biodiversity Variables. By making animal movement data more accessible and interpretable, this database could bridge the gap between movement ecology and biodiversity policy, facilitating evidence‐based conservation. 

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5. Root Characteristics Vary with Depth Across Four Lowland Seasonal Tropical Forests

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-024-00941-w  

   Cordeiro, Amanda L; Cusack, Daniela F; Dietterich, Lee H; Hockaday, William C; McFarlane, Karis J; Sivapalan, Vinothan; Hedgpeth, Alexandra; Neupane, Avishesh; Colburn, Lily; Konwent, Weronika; et al (December 2024, Ecosystems)

   Fine roots are key to ecosystem-scale nutrient, carbon (C), and water cycling, yet our understanding of fine root trait variation within and among tropical forests, one of Earth’s most C-rich ecosystems, is limited. We characterized root biomass, morphology, nutrient content, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) colonization to 1.2 m depths across four distinct lowland Panamanian forests, and related root characteristics to soil C stocks. We hypothesized that: (H1) Fine root characteristics vary consistently with depth across seasonal tropical forests, with deeper roots exhibiting more exploratory traits, such as for deep water acquisition; (H2) fine root characteristics vary among tropical forests mainly in surface soils, where resource availability also varies. We found consistent variation with depth across the four forests, including decreased root biomass, root tissue density, and AMF, and increased specific root length. Among the forests, there was variation in some fine root characteristics, including greater surface root biomass and lower SRL in the wettest forest, and smaller fine root diameter in the driest forest. We also found that root characteristics were related to total soil C stocks, which were positively related to root biomass and negatively related to specific root length. These results indicate emergent properties of root variation with depth across tropical forests, and show site-scale variation in surface root characteristics. Future work could explore the flexibility in root characteristics under changing conditions such as drought. 

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