Assessing microbial communities across the fine root landscape

Root-associated microbial communities are increasingly recognized as key contributors to plant function, but we still understand little about the factors driving interactions between microbes and individual roots.To have a thorough understanding of this system, we must consider the immense functional and spatial heterogeneity of roots within complex root systems. In this Viewpoint, we describe a prototype study in which we map and analyze root-associated microbial communities throughout a woody root system. Our efforts demonstrate how spatially explicit sampling yields unique insights into the relative importance of factors structuring root-associated microbial communities.