Carbon inputs from plant roots are more likely to be stabilized in pools of soil organic matter (SOM) than carbon inputs from leaves or stems. But our understanding and model representation of SOM has been overwhelmingly focused on aboveground plant dynamics. Why? History. And the mystery of belowground processes. Recently, ecologists and soil scientists have dusted off and freely shared our hard-won observations in large global databases. To span the gaps between root- and soil databases, we built a framework of olive branches--er, root traits--to test and inform our understanding and model representation of the continuum of belowground processes.
