%0 Journal Article %A Hua-Jun YIN %A Zi-Liang ZHANG %A Qing LIU %T Root exudates and their ecological consequences in forest ecosystems: Problems and perspective %D 2018 %R 10.17521/cjpe.2018.0156 %J Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology %P 1055-1070 %V 42 %N 11 %X

Researches on rhizosphere ecological processes and the underlying mechanisms have become one of the most active and sensitive hotspots in soil science. Root exudates have specialized roles in mediating the nutrient cycling and signal transduction within root-soil-microbe interactions. They are the key driving factors in regulating the functions of rhizosphere micro-ecosystem, and serve as a major premise for the concept and ecological processes in rhizosphere. However, due to the instinctive advantages of crops, such as short life cycles and convenient operation, most previous studies on root exudation mainly focused on agricultural ecosystems and were primarily targeted at providing practical guidelines. In contrast, there have been relatively few investigations on root exudates of trees, which highly limited the comprehensive knowledge of the potential mechanisms of root exudates in mediating soil biogeochemical processes in forest ecosystems. Hence, in this review, based on the main findings in our previous studies and the emerging frontiers in rhizosphere ecology, we specifically reviewed the ecological consequences and key remaining challenges in researches on root exudation in forests. Finally, we identify several topics and research outlooks for guiding future work to facilitate studies on root exudation and its ecological consequences in forest ecosystems.

%U https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2018.0156