While fine roots are a key component of ecosystem carbon cycling, interactions between soil resources and roots are typically studied without considering potential interactions with root herbivores and their natural enemies. We propose to use field and greenhouse experiments to investigate the influence of resource availability, resource heterogeneity and root herbivory on above- and belowground biomass and preliminary competitive outcomes in early-successional southeastern U.S. forests. Preliminary data has shown that herbivores play a strong role in this system, and demonstrated strong positive responses of root herbivores to small-scale (<50cm 2 ) resource-rich patches. This may have strong negative impacts on plant species that preferentially forage in such patches, while allowing less-aggressively foraging plant species to persist where they would otherwise be outcompeted.
