Root plasticity as an aspect of functional diversity

Functional diversity has been advanced as having direct implications for many ecosystem processes._ Diversity of functional traits at the community level can lead to niche complementation and facilitation, so increasing overall functionality through more efficient exploitation of limited environmental resources._ Similarly, variation within a species can have the same effects._ Even a single genotype may take on diverse functionality via phenotypic plasticity thus providing the last component of a range of mechanistic diversity._ Plant roots will serve as the model system for the exploration of these issues.