Fig. 4
Structural equation model of species and root-order effects on root decomposition. Relationships between species, root order and root chemical and morphological traits (EF, C/N, N, AIF, SRL and Diameter), and root mass remaining percentage. The final model fit the data well: χ2 = 18.321, df = 18, P = 0.435, Akaike Information Criteria (AIC) = 90.321, Root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.028. Numbers adjacent to the arrows are standardized regression weights (*P ≤ 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001). Red arrows represent positive relationships and black arrows represent negative relationships, respectively. The width of the arrows indicates the strength of the relationships. Red and black dashed arrows representing positive and negative nonsignificant paths are kept. Gray dashed arrows indicate nonsignificant paths removed to improve model fits. R2 values below each variable indicates the proportions of variation explained by the model