Root Biology Lab at
The Morton Arboretum

Postdoc Opportunity

Check out this opportunity to work with Dan Ricciuto and Colleen Iversen at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The position is focused on improving the representation of roots and root-processes in models and leverages long-term datasets of root growth from our work at The Morton Arboretum.  

The Landscape Below Ground

Gary Watson organized the Landscape Below Ground IV conference which was held in Lisle, IL, USA in the fall of 2018. The proceedings from the "LBG IV" is now available through the International Society of Arboriculture.  Keep your eyes and ears open, LBG V may be just around the corner.

Recent Publications

McCormack ML*, MA Kaproth*, E Carlson, J Cavender-Bares, PG Kennedy. Fine-root morphology and architecture are interconnected among root orders but are unrelated to climate of origin across a diverse suite of oak species. New Phytologist (in press). 

Li FL, ML McCormack, X Liu, H Hu, DF Feng, WK Bao. Vertical fine-root distributions in five subalpine forest types shifts with soil properties across environmental gradients. Plant and Soil (in press).

Guerrero-Ramirez N, Mommer L, Freschet GT, Iversen CM, McCormack ML, Kattge J, Poorter H, van der Plas F, Bergmann J, Kuyper TW, ... A Weigelt. Global Root Traits (GRooT) Database. Global Ecology and Biogeography (2020).
Bergmann J, A Weigelt, F van der Plas, DC Laughlin, TW Kuyper, N Guerrero-Rameriz, OJ Valverde-Barrantes, H Bruelheide, GT Freschet, CM Iversen, J Kattge, ML McCormack, IC Meier, MC Rillig, C Roumet, M Semchenko, CJ Sweeney, J van Ruijven, LM York, L Mommer, The fungal collaboration gradient dominates the root economics space in plants. Science Advances, 6: eaba3756 (2020).
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G Watson and A Hewitt. Large trees establish more rapidly when transplanted bare root. International Journal of Urban Forestry, 1-10 (2020).

G Watson and A Hewitt. Changes in Tree Root Architecture Resulting from Field Nursery Production Practices. Journal of Environmental Horticulture, 38: 22-28 (2020).

Addo-Danso S, C Defrenne, C Prescott, ML McCormack, I Ostonen, A Addo-Danso, E Foli, K Borden, I Marney. Fine-root morphological trait variation in tropical forest ecosystems: an evidence synthesis. Plant Ecology, 221: 1-13 (2020).

McCormack ML and CM Iversen. Physical and functional constraints on viable belowground acquisition strategies. Frontiers in Plant Science, 10: 1-12 (2019).

Soudzilovskaia N, Peter M van Bodegom, C Terrer, M van’t Zelfde, I McCallum, ML McCormack, JB Fisher, M Brundrett, NC de Sá, L Tedersoo. Global mycorrhizal plants distribution linked to terrestrial carbon stocks. Nature Communications, 10: 5077 (2019).

Defrenne CE, ML McCormack, SD Addo-Danso, SW Simard. Intraspecific fine-root trait-environment relationships across interior Douglas-fir forests of western Canada. Plants, 8: 199 (2019).

See CR, ML McCormack, SE Hobbie, H Flores-Moreno, WL Silver, PG Kennedy. Global patterns in fine-root decomposition: climate, chemistry, mycorrhizal association and woodiness. Ecology Letters, 22: 946-953 (2019).

Li F, H Hu, ML McCormack, D Feng, X Liu, W Bao. A community-level economics spectrum of fine-roots driven by nutrient limitations in subalpine forests. Journal of Ecology, 107: 1238-1249 (2019).
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Dybzinski R, A Kelvakis, J McCabe, S Panock, K Anuchitlertchon, L Vasarhelyi, ML McCormack, GG McNickle, H Poorter, C Trinder, CE Farrior. How are nitrogen availability, fine-root mass, and nitrogen uptake related empirically? Implications for models and theory. Global Change Biology, 25: 885-899 (2019).

Li L, ML McCormack, F Chen, H Wang, Z Ma, D Guo.  Different responses of absorptive roots and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to fertilization provide diverse nutrient acquisition strategies in Chinese fir. Forest Ecology and Management, 433: 64-7 (2019).