The chapters in this Proceedings are divided into six areas of interest, reflecting the six sessions of the symposium: Global patterns of carbon allocation and partitioning; Managed and unmanaged ecosystems; Sustainable agroecosystems; Groundwater quality; Genetics, physiology, and molecular biology; and, Contemporary methods for measuring root dynamics. The sponsoring society has made a particular effort in these symposia to include root scientists from the former Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries. Therefore, when combined with manuscripts from the U.S.A., western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, P.R. China and Asia, a good sampling of world root research is presented in the sixty-seven chapters. This volume should prove valuable as a reference and source of communication for root scientists.