A new paper, led by our recently joined colleague and based on her previous work, has been published in Global Ecology and Conservation.

In this study, the authors explored how plants allocate biomass belowground by examining species-specific and community-level root mass fractions in a semiarid sandy grassland. They also investigated whether changes at the community level are driven more by shifts in species composition or by how individual species respond to altered precipitation over time.

The results showed that species differ markedly in their root mass fraction: annuals generally allocate less biomass to roots than perennials. Plants also increased their root mass fraction in drier conditions. Interestingly, despite an increase in the abundance of annuals (which typically have lower root mass fractions), the overall community-level root mass fraction did not decline as expected. Instead, it increased under drought conditions. This indicates that changes in community-level root allocation were driven primarily by within-species responses rather than by shifts in species composition.

For more details, see the full article:doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2026.e04160