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Quantitative Studies of Roots of Perennial Plants in the Mojave Desert
Author(s) -
Wallace A.,
Bamberg S. A.,
Cha J. W.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.2307/1940368
Subject(s) - perennial plant , biomass (ecology) , biology , dry weight , population , botany , root (linguistics) , ecology , agronomy , linguistics , philosophy , demography , sociology
Root and stem weights were obtained for 113 field samples of 10 species of perennial plants in the northern Mojave Desert in order to develop methods for determining belowground biomass under the given conditions. Root and stem weights for all were highly correlated, and linear regression in most cases adequately expressed the relationship between root weight and stem weight. Root weight for the total of all plants considered was about 45% of the sum of stem and root weights. There were species differences. The proportion that was root was generally independent of plant size. Root biomass can be estimated from stem weights for a population, for some species at least, within a possible error of ± 10% to 20%. The data were combined with stem weights by dimension analysis to calculate the belowground biomass per ha in the Rock Valley area of the Mojave Desert.