XVI International Botanical Congess

Tissue structure of leaves is important in plant ecology. We investigated the role of tissue structure in roots by conducting an experiment with 19 grass species. We measured tissue density, i.e. dry matter investment per tissue volume along with root turnover and the proportion of different tissue types on root transverse sections. According to the high proportion of cell walls in stele, there was a positive correlation between the proportion of stele and tissue density. Tissue density correlated negatively with lifespan of roots and positively with relative growth rates indicating that species of resource-rich habitats construct the same volume of tissue using less structural material as species of resource-poor habitats. We showed the fundamental connection between anatomy and root lifespan, and thus the significance of anatomy for the ecology of plants.