Our Root Ecology Group members Ivika Ostonen-Märtin and Marian Klaus talked on “Osoon” about an exciting new way to monitor root growth underground.
Screenshots from “Osoon”.
Root researchers have discovered that ordinary office scanners, bought from a stationery shop, can be used to observe underground life in real time – something that has never been possible before. Previously, researchers had to dig the roots out of the soil to study them.
The next time you’re walking in a forest, you can remind yourself that beneath your feet, within just one square metre, there are approximately 20 metres of coarse roots, 20 kilometres of fine roots, and up to one million kilometres of fungal hyphae. And all of them play an important role in the ecosystem.
The scanners featured on “Osoon” are also helping FutureScapes to study how climate and land-use changes affect life underground.
You can watch the episode here: