New model to predict rooting in diverse plant community compositions

A modelling approach based on generally valid geometrical formulas and simple statistical procedures is presented with the aim of predicting the total rooting density and rooting distributions along the soil profile for different vegetation communities. The model needs as basic data:(1) rom the literature on rooting of individual species (root form, rooting density, main root depth, lateral extension) and rd phytosociological values (e.g. subplot frequency or modified Braun-Blanquet frequency/abundance values) for the combination of the rooting values for each species to the community rooting value. ta clearly show that the modelled results of the total rooting of vegetation communities correlate well with the measured values. The correlation coefficients obtained from the comparison are high (0.89–0.92) and always highly significant. However, when the model is used to calculate only the rooting of a partial soil layer, then the accuracy of the result increases with increasing soil layer thickness. The agreement between measured and calculated data indicate that the model is very sensitive to species-specific differences within a vegetation community. the integrated data and the mathematical concept, the model is not subject to any bio-geographical restrictions. When the necessary data are available, this modelling approach could be used for the calculation of the rooting of all terrestrial biomes. Consequently, it could be also be used as a module for hydrological, biochemical and ecological models.