Conclusions
Our results found that over 85% of species predominantly placed their fine roots in the 0-10 cm soil zone, resulting in the accumulation ofc. 70% of fine root abundance in the 0-30 cm soil zone in our experimental subtropical forest. The low differentiation in relative root distribution among species, the neutral effect of root neighbours on species relative root distributions and the random-to-aggregated root-placement patterns suggest similar topsoil foraging among heterospecific roots and the adoption of alternative resource acquisition strategies that promotes species co-existence.