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They usually are. It’s a process akin to archaeology where they have to carefully wash away the dirt from the root system, measuring as they go. The problem wit
by throwup238 1y ago
They usually are. It’s a process akin to archaeology where they have to carefully wash away the dirt from the root system, measuring as they go. The problem with this method is that it's hard to reconstruct the entire 3d structure of bigger plants like trees so a lot of the root drawings on the site don’t accurately show how deep they go. It’s much easier with small plants where the researcher can control the soil used.
Modern methods like xray CT or ground penetrating radar can do it nondestructively in the field but they’re usually expensive to set up compared to just sending some grad students to dig.
- JKCalhoun 1y agoI had assumed they had grown the plant between two vertical, parallel panes of glass.
- imp0cat 1y agoThat would probably produce a distorted image of the root system.
- immibis 1y agoOn the contrary - I think you'd get an accurate image of a very distorted root system!
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago> you'd get an accurate image of a very distorted root system At the very least, you've taken a 3D system and reduced it to 2D. Additionally, you're exposing not only the root system but the entire microbiome around them to light and, almost certainly, unless you were incredibly meticulous about sealing, oxygen.
- imp0cat 1y agoMe fail English? That's unpossible! :) But yeah, that's what I mean.
- kqr 1y agoSome of the images (at least one I saw of a tree) had section drawings both from the side and the top, so no!
- garbagewoman 1y agoBy “usually”, have you any examples of what led to that conclusion?
- morsch 1y agohttps://images.wur.nl/digital/collection/coll13/ https://images.wur.nl/digital/collection/coll13/ https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1505&context=agronomyfacpub https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1...