Fine root branch orders contribute differentially to uptake, allocation, and return of potentially toxic metals.

Growing evidence has revealed high heterogeneity of fine root networks in both structure and function, with different root orders corporately maintaining trees' physiological activities. However, little information is available on how fine root heterogeneity of trees responds to environmental stresses. We examined concentrations of seven potentially toxic metals (Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, and Pb) within fine root networks and their correlations with root morphological and macro-elemental traits in six Chinese subtropical trees. The contributions of different orders of roots to fine-root metal storage and return were also estimated. Results showed no consistent pattern for the correlation among different metal concentration against root traits. Unlike root metal concentration that generally decreased with root order, root metal storage was commonly lowest in middle root orders. Root senescence was at least comparable to leaf senescence contributing to metal removal. Although the first-order roots constituted 7.2-22.3% of total fine root biomass, they disproportionately contributed to most of metal return fluxes via root senescence. The two distinct root functional modules contributed differentially to metal uptake, allocation, and return, with defensive (lower-order) roots effectively stabilizing and removing toxic metals and bulk buffering (higher-order) roots possessing a persistent but diluted metal pool. Our results suggest a strong association of physiological functions of metal detoxification and metal homeostasis with the structural heterogeneity in fine root architecture.