Soil erosion is a global concern as it reduces the quality of the soil and restricts its ability to provide essential ecosystem services, such as supplying the nutrients and substrate for the majority of the world’s food. The impact of above ground plant matter, such as stems and leaves, are relatively well understood but recent research has begun to reveal that roots can have just as much of an impact on erosion mitigation as the above ground plant matter. However, research in this area has mostly focused on larger roots or the root system as a whole, leaving the impact of smaller root traits relatively poorly understood. Small root traits, such as root hairs and root mucilage are widely recognised to bind soil to the root and anchor the root but their impact on soil anchorage is poorly understood. In this talk I will highlight the properties these root traits possess that suggest they are beneficial to soil reinforcement and ero-sion mitigation and I will evaluate whether these traits translate to measurable impacts on reducing erosion.

The Natural Resources & Environmental Studies Institute (NRESi) at UNBC hosts a weekly lecture series at the Prince George campus. Anyone from the university or wider community with interest in the topic area is welcome to attend. Presentations are also made available to remote participants through Livestream (Channel 1). Go to http://www.unbc.ca/nres-institute/colloquium-webcasts to view the presentation remotely.

Past NRESi colloquium presentations and special lectures can be viewed on our video archive, available here.