Africa’s fynbos plants hold their ground with the world’s thinnest roots

[Seldom Bucket]

Some plant roots draw a line in the sand — literally.


In South Africa, you can move between cool, green forest and sunbaked shrubland in a single stride. These narrow borders between dramatically different ecosystems are maintained by intense competition between plants’ roots, new research suggests.


Fynbos — a type of species-rich shrubland found only on the far southern tip of Africa — has the thinnest roots by far of any plant community in the world, researchers report in the March 1 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. These nutrient-gobbling roots, plus some fire-encouraging adaptations, help turn the fynbos into an austere realm where only fynbos plants can survive.

Africa’s fynbos plants hold their ground with the world’s thinnest roots

Long, thin roots help this South African shrubland commandeer soil nutrients and keep the neighboring forest from encroaching on its territory.

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