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Modified ingrowth core method plus infrared calibration models for estimating fine root production in peatlands

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Abstract

Aims

Fine root production is a major carbon flux in many peatland ecosystems and least understood because of methodological difficulties. We aimed to develop a robust method for inventorying fine root production in peatlands.

Methods

The ingrowth core method was modified to reduce disturbance and facilitate faster colonization by developing a novel type of corer-installer that reduces cutting of roots during installation, and using smaller volume of initially root-free substrate. The number of cores needed for a reliable site-level mean was estimated based on the variation observed in the test sites. Infrared calibration models were constructed for estimating the mass proportion of roots in the ingrowth cores without manual separation.

Results

We observed first-year production of 118, 216, 170 and 125 g m−2 yr−1 in the 0–50 cm soil layer for boreal drained bog forest, drained fen forest, wet sedge fen and dry sedge fen, respectively. Between 10 to 30 cores per site was estimated to be enough for obtaining reliable mean estimates of production. The infrared calibration models yielded high coefficient of determination (0.72–0.83) and low standard error of prediction (5–8 %).

Conclusions

We suggest that the methodology presented here saves time and manual labour and may be applied with a high number of replicates for inventorying fine root production in peatlands. Practical guidelines are presented.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks are due to Lauri Suutari for his ingenious work in designing and manufacturing the prototype of the corer-installer, Hannu Latvajärvi for his support in several logistic issues, Maria Luisa Gutiérrez de los Rios and Kaarina Pynnönen for pretreatment of the sedge fen ingrowth cores, Kari Minkkinen and Paavo Ojanen for temperature and water level data for the drained sites, Anne Siika for preparing Fig. 1, Jouni Hyvärinen for preparing Fig. 2 and for help with finalizing the other figures, the Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla) for supporting project 3609, Nessling Foundation for supporting project 2014046, and the Academy of Finland for supporting project 1259190.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Finnish Forest Research Institute, Western Unit, Kaironiementie 15, 39700, Parkano, Finland

    Raija Laiho

  2. Peatland Ecology Group, Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, Box 27, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Rabbil Bhuiyan & Petra Straková

  3. Finnish Forest Research Institute, Southern Unit, Box 18, 01301, Vantaa, Finland

    Päivi Mäkiranta, Tiina Badorek & Timo Penttilä

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  1. Raija Laiho
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  2. Rabbil Bhuiyan
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  3. Petra Straková
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  4. Päivi Mäkiranta
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  5. Tiina Badorek
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  6. Timo Penttilä
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Correspondence to Raija Laiho.

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Responsible Editor: Tim Moore.

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Laiho, R., Bhuiyan, R., Straková, P. et al. Modified ingrowth core method plus infrared calibration models for estimating fine root production in peatlands. Plant Soil 385, 311–327 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-014-2225-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-014-2225-3

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