Carbon allocation is central to plant functioning and ecosystem carbon cycling. Recently assimilated carbon can be partitioned among a range of above- and belowground sinks including growth, respiration, storage, reproduction, symbiotic interactions and rhizodeposition, including root exudation. Environmental conditions can alter these allocation patterns, with consequences for the fate and persistence of carbon above- and belowground. Despite the importance of carbon allocation, we still lack a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms controlling the fate of newly fixed carbon, how allocation patterns vary across species and ecosystems, and how they respond to environmental drivers.
This session aims to address key questions such as:
1. What drives carbon allocation above- and below-ground?
2. How is recently assimilated carbon partitioned among sinks (e.g. growth, metabolism, storage, reproduction, symbioses and rhizodeposition)?
3. How do allocation patterns respond to global changes, involving a.o. warming, drought, elevated CO₂, or alterations in nutrient availability?
4. What trade-offs exist between aboveground and root growth, storage and exudation?
5. How does belowground carbon allocation support nutrient acquisition, water relations, stress tolerance and plant-microbe interactions?
6. How can carbon allocation, including root exudation, be quantified, traced and represented across spatial and temporal scales?
We invite observational, experimental, methodological and modelling studies that investigate plant carbon allocation from organ to ecosystem scales. We particularly welcome studies that explore carbon allocation dynamics, including trade-offs among growth, storage, defence and reproduction, as well as root functioning, symbiotic carbon transfer and rhizodeposition in a changing environment.
By bringing together research on plant physiology, root ecology, carbon tracing, rhizosphere processes and ecosystem modelling, this session seeks to advance an integrated understanding of how plants allocate carbon above- and below-ground, how these allocation strategies respond to global changes, and how they ultimately affect plant performance, ecosystem functioning and terrestrial carbon cycling.