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Leaves and roots live in dramatically different habitats, but are parts of the same organism. Automated image processing of time-lapse records of these organs has led to understanding of spatial and temporal patterns of growth on time scales from minutes to weeks. Growth zones in roots and leaves show distinct patterns during a diel cycle (24 h period). In dicot leaves under nonstressful conditions these patterns are characterized by endogenous rhythms, sometimes superimposed upon morphogenesis driven by environmental variation. In roots and monocot leaves the growth patterns depend more strongly on environmental fluctuations. Because the impact of spatial variations and temporal fluctuations of above- and belowground environmental parameters must be processed by the plant body as an entire system whose individual modules interact on different levels, growth reactions of individual modules are often highly nonlinear. A mechanistic understanding of plant resource use efficiency and performance in a dynamically fluctuating environment therefore requires an accurate analysis of leaf and root growth patterns in conjunction with knowledge of major intraplant communication systems and metabolic pathways.
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Supplemental Video 1: Color-coded video of root growth (duration 2 h; red: high relative elemental growth rate; blue: low). Download video file (MPG) Supplemental Video 2: Color-coded video of dicot leaf growth (duration 24 h; red: high relative elemental growth rate; blue: low). Download video file (MPG) Supplemental Video 3: Color-coded video of root circumnutations (duration 6 h, frequency depending on nutrient availability, colors code for transversal velocity component). Download video file (MPG)