Root Biology Lab at
The Morton Arboretum

We are recruiting a postdoc!

We are recruiting a postdoctoral scholar to work on a funded project integrating plant and mycorrhizal processes among diverse temperate tree species. Contact (lmccormack-at- mortonarb.org). 
Do you love roots?  Want to read some of the best work in the past couple years?  Check out this special issue at New Phytologist.

Recent Publications

Yang Y, ML McCormack, H Hui, WK Bao, FL Li. Linking fine-root architecture, vertical distribution and growth rate in temperate mountain shrubs. Oikos, (2022).

Iversen CM and ML McCormack. Filling gaps in our understanding of belowground plant traits across the world: an introduction to a Virtual Issue. New Phytologist, 231: 2097-2103 (2021).

Freschet GT, L Pagès, CM Iversen, LH Comas, B Rewald, C Roumet, L Klimešová, M Zadworny, H Poorter, JA Postma, TS Adams, A Bagniewska-Zadworna, AG Bengough, EB Blancaflor, I Brunner, JHC Cornelissen, E Garnier, A Gessler, E Hobbie, IC Meier, L Mommer, C Picon-Cochard, L Rose, P Ryser, M Scherer-Lorenzen, NA Soudzilovskaia, A Stokes, T Sun, OJ Valverde-Barrantes, M Weemstra, A Weigelt, N Wurzburger, LM York, SA Batterman, M Gomes de Moraes, Š Janeček, H Lambers, V Salmon, N Tharayil, and McCormack, M.L. (2021). A starting guide to root ecology: strengthening ecological concepts and standardising root classification, sampling, processing and trait measurements. New Phytologist, 232: 973-1122 (2021).
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Weigelt A, Mommer L, Andraczek K, Iversen CM, Bergmann J, Bruelheide H, Fan Y, Freschet GT, Guerrero-Ramírez NR, Kattge J, Kuyper TW, Laughlin DC, Meier IC, van der Plas F, Poorter H, Roumet C, van Ruijven J, Sabatini FM, Semchenko M, Sweeney CJ, Valverde-Barrantes OJ, York LM, ML McCormack. An integrated framework of plant form and function: The belowground perspective. New Phytologist 232: 42-59 (2021).

Zadworny M, J Mucha, A Bagniewska-Zadworna, R Ż, E Mąderek, D Danusevičius, J Oleksyn, TP Wyka, ML McCormack. Higher biomass partitioning to absorptive roots improves needle nutrition but does not alleviate stomatal limitation of northern Scots pine. Global Change Biology, 27: 3859-3869 (2021).

Laughlin D, L Mommer, FM Sabatini, H Bruelheide, TW Kuyper, ML McCormack, J Bergmann, GT Freschet, N Guerrero-Ramirez, CM Iversen, J Kattge, IC Meier, H Poorter, C Roumet, M Semchenko, CJ Sweeney, OJ Valverde-Barrantes, F van der Plas, J van Ruijven, LM York, I Aubin, OR Burge, C Byun, R Ćušterevska, J Dengler, E Forey, GR Guerin, B Herault, RB Jackson, DN Karger, J Lenoir, T Lysenko, P Meir, Ü Niinemets, WA Ozinga, J Penuelas, PB Reich, M Schmidt, F Schrodt, E Velázquez, A Weigelt. Root traits explain plant species distributions along climatic gradients yet challenge the nature of ecological trade-offs. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 5: 1123-1134 (2021).

Wang J, C Defrenne, ML McCormack, L Yang, D Tian, Y Luo, E Hou, T Yan, Z Li, W Bu, Y Chen, S Niu. Fine-root functional trait responses to experimental warming: a global meta-analysis. New Phytologist (2021).

Hu H, FL Li, ML McCormack, L Huang, WK Bao. Functionally divergent growth, biomass allocation and root distribution of two xerophytic species in response to varying soil rock fragment content. Plant and Soil (2021).
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Freschet G, C Roumet, LH Comas, M Weemstra, AG Bengough, B Rewald, RD Bardgett, GB De Deyn, D Johnson, J Klimešová, M Lukac, ML McCormack, IC Meier, L Pagès, H Poorter, I Prieto, N Wurzburger, M Zadworny, A Bagniewska‐Zadworna, EB Blancaflor, I Brunner, A Gessler, SE Hobbie, CM Iversen, L Mommer, C Picon‐Cochard, JA Postma, L Rose, P Ryser, M Scherer‐Lorenzen, NA Soudzilovskaia, T Sun, OJ Valverde‐Barrantes, A Weigelt, LM York, A Stokes. Root traits as drivers of plant and ecosystem functioning: current understanding, pitfalls and future research needs. New Phytologist (2021).