Root foraging and mining strategies – the rhizosphere at depth by Philippe Hinsinger

Roots are foraging for belowground resource acquisition through a diversity of root traits and interactions with the soil and soil biota, as well as with other plants. In addition, roots can release large amounts of exudates and considerably alter nutrient concentrations and soil pH, either themselves or through the stimulation of their microbiome. Roots have thus evolved diverse mining strategies based on combinations of such rhizosphere processes occurring over short spatial and temporal scales around living roots, both in the topsoil and at considerable depth. These ultimately shape the fate of soil organic carbon and major nutrients in the rhizosphere and, ultimately, ecosystem services such as soil formation, carbon and nutrient cycling at large scales.