Figure 3.3 Plants with various functional traits layered together
range of plant heights and habits
grasses with short fibrous roots forbs with deeper roots
Actions: 3.1 Include a range of plant sizes: height and spread Plant communities with plants at a range of heights more efficiently utilize available sunlight to photosynthesize and space to grow. Traits that are strongly correlated with carbon sequestration, but are difficult to measure, such as leaf nitrogen concentration and specific leaf area, are also correlated with a diversity of heights (Milcu et al. 2014). Including plants that have different horizontal spreads also can
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occupy different niches and help the community utilize resources efficiently. 3.2 Include a range of plant forms and habits Combining plants with different habits or form, such as upright, trailing, spreading, pyramidal, arching, pendulous, or vaseshaped, will fill more vertical and horizontal spatial niches in the plant community, contributing to the whole ecosystem using resources more efficiently and sequestering more carbon. 3.3 Include a diversity of root depths and architectural type Root traits have been found to have strong linkages to soil carbon