Where do the good foragers live?

Plant species differ in their ability to preferentially grow their roots into nutrient-rich patches in the substrate - this aspect of plant phenotypic plasticity is known as "root foraging". Using a set of approx. 80 Central European herbaceous species of open habitats we show how the root foraging precision of the species is linked to their usual environment. We have obtained the root foraging data experimentally and we combine them with tabelar data that describe species' preference for soil moisture and soil nutrients availability (Ellenberg's Indicator Values), species' ability to occupy frequently disturbed habitats and typical habitats of the species in general.