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Root site occupancy modelling of young New Zealand native plants: implications for soil reinforcement

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Abstract

Plants are widely used in soil conservation to control and prevent erosion on hillslopes and on riverbanks. Previous research has shown the mechanical root reinforcement on soil stability can be considerable. However, land and forest managers still require information and simple tools to enable them to determine how and when a species becomes effective in terms of soil stabilisation. This paper uses root length data from a trial of young New Zealand trees and shrubs to develop a simple model to account for the spatial occupancy of a planting site by roots, and by implication their potential strength contribution to soil reinforcement. It is developed by calculating root surface area in contact with the soil to obtain an effective radius of the root spread about the stem. The approach generates a set of coefficients that are unique to a species for a given site which can then be used in the generalised model to predict root site occupancy, which is taken as a proxy for when soil reinforcement is attained. This information can then be used to assess effectiveness of different species mixes in planting plans.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the support of the Tairawhiti Polytechnic Rural Studies Unit, Gisborne, on whose land the plant trials were located. Donna Rowan and interns from Germany, France, and Canada are thanked for assisting with processing the plants and assembling data over the years of the trials. We thank Craig Ross for reviewing a draft of this paper. Christine Bezar is thanked for editing the final version. The Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, New Zealand, provided funding under Contract No. C0X0305. We would also like to acknowledge the support and encouragement for our tree root research in New Zealand by the late Colin O’Loughlin, who passed away in February 2011.

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  1. Landcare Research, PO Box 40, Lincoln, 7640, New Zealand

    Chris John Phillips & Jagath C. Ekanayake

  2. Landcare Research, PO Box 445, Gisborne, 4040, New Zealand

    Mike Marden

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  1. Chris John Phillips
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  2. Jagath C. Ekanayake
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Correspondence to Chris John Phillips.

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Phillips, C.J., Ekanayake, J.C. & Marden, M. Root site occupancy modelling of young New Zealand native plants: implications for soil reinforcement. Plant Soil 346, 201–214 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-011-0810-2

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