Future in the past: water uptake function of root systems

Purpose For decades, the water uptake function of different root types, development regions and root responses to stress have been studied extensively using direct biophysical methods. More recently, advanced imaging technologies provide new avenues to explore root system function non-invasively by extracting information on soil water depletion around roots while preserving architectural characteristics. Methods and Results Mullers et al. (2022) used Magnetic Resonance Imaging in combination with the Soil Water Profiler to demonstrate that the assumption of a constant root water uptake rate by root length across the root system leads to erroneous assumptions of root system water uptake in the soil profile. Conclusion Historically, this finding may not come as a surprise but it explicitly addresses this issue for intact root systems of several species. Future research efforts may be directed in combining root system imaging with biophysical and anatomical analyses to further advance our understanding of root system hydraulics in relation to soil water depletion.