TY - GEN A1 - Garcia de la Riva, Enrique A1 - Marañón, Teodoro A1 - Pérez-Ramos, Ignacio Manuel A1 - Navarro-Fernández, Carmen M. A1 - Olmo, Manuel A1 - Villar, Rafael T1 - Root traits across environmental gradients in Mediterraneanwoody communities: are they aligned along the root economicsspectrum? T2 - Plant and Soil N2 - Background and aimsRoot traits play a critical role inplant resource-use strategies and ecosystem functioning,but there is great controversy regarding their identityand functionality in different dimensions of below-ground functional variation. Here, we explored the levelof covariation among a suite of key root traits (i.e.specific root length, root dry matter content, diameterand density) as well as between them and two above-ground traits related with plant function (leaf nutrientconcentration and specific leaf area). We also evaluatedwhether these patterns of trait covariation were consis-tent at different spatial scales and organisational levels.MethodsWe collected fine root (< 2 mm) samples of 534individuals (of 80 woody species) along a wide regionalrange of environmental conditions in southern Spain. KW - Growth rate KW - LMA KW - Nutrients KW - Root diameter KW - Root tissue density KW - SLA KW - Specific root length KW - Water availability Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-017-3433-4 SN - 0032-079X IS - 424 SP - 35 EP - 48 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Garcia de la Riva, Enrique A1 - Prieto, Iván A1 - Marañón, Teodoro A1 - Pérez-Ramos, Ignacio Manuel A1 - Olmo, Manuel A1 - Villar, Rafael T1 - Root economics spectrum and construction costs in Mediterranean woody plants: the role of symbiotic associations and the environment T2 - Journal of Ecology N2 - 1. Many studies have quantified the functional variation of fine root traits to un-derstand the overarching trade-off between maximizing resource acquisition or conservation (root economics spectrum [RES]). However, we know remarkably less on how plant strategies along the RES are actually constrained by the amount of photosynthates required to construct roots (i.e. construction costs, CC) or how below- ground interactions with symbiotic organisms modify root trait patterns and their relationships with CC.2. Our main aim was to quantify CC of fine roots (<2 mm) and their underlying compo-nents (carbon, minerals and organic nitrogen concentrations) in 60 Mediterranean woody species with contrasting symbiotic association types (ectomycorrhizas, ar-buscular and ericoid mycorrhizas and N-fixing bacteria). We examined (a) whether the covariation among fine root traits along the RES was related to the intrinsic cost of producing roots and whether this relationship was dependent on the type of root symbiosis; (b) whether the relationship of each CC component with the RES was dependent on the type of root symbiosis and (c) whether soil water and nutrient availability determined differences in CC across sites.3. According to the RES hypothesis, fine root traits showed a main covariation trend (acquisition vs. conservation), defined by the first PCA axis, which also segregated species by their two main contrasting symbiotic types (arbuscular and ectomycor-rhizal). We found a positive relationship between root CC and the RES (i.e. PCA axis 1) and, interestingly, slopes differed among symbiotic types, in response to the different role of each specific CC component. In addition, independently of symbiotic type, root CC decreased linearly with soil nutrient availability and quad-ratically with plant water availability.4. Synthesis. Our study demonstrates that woody plants display different functional strategies in their root CC, related with their position on the RES, and that CC differ among symbiotic groups. The influence of the root CC components across species varied among symbiotic associations, pointing to a trade-off between structural and metabolic compounds. Root CC were also strongly modulated by soil resource availability (nutrients and water). This study highlights that root CC are fundamental to better understand below- ground resource-use strategies. KW - below-ground strategies KW - functional traits KW - mycorrhiza KW - resource gradient KW - rhizobium KW - root carbon KW - soil nutrient KW - specific root length Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13612 SN - 1365-2745 VL - 109 IS - 4 SP - 1873 EP - 1885 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Garcia de la Riva, Enrique A1 - Violle, Cyrille A1 - Pérez-Ramos, Ignacio Manuel A1 - Marañón, Teodoro A1 - Navarro-Fernández, Carmen M. A1 - Olmo, Manuel A1 - Villar, Rafael T1 - A Multidimensional Functional Trait Approach Reveals the Imprint of Environmental Stress in Mediterranean Woody Communities T2 - Ecosystems KW - aridity KW - dry shrubland KW - functionaldiversity KW - functional structure KW - hypervolume KW - planttraits Y1 - 2018 UR - https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10021-017-0147-7.pdf U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-017-0147-7 SN - 1435-0629 SN - 1432-9840 VL - 21 IS - 2 SP - 248 EP - 262 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Salazar Zarzosa, Pablo A1 - Diaz Herraiz, Aurelio A1 - Olmo, Manuel A1 - Ruiz-Benito, Paloma A1 - Barrón, Vidal A1 - Bastias, Cristina C. A1 - Garcia de la Riva, Enrique A1 - Villar, Rafael T1 - Linking functional traits with tree growth and forest productivity in Quercus ilex forests along a climatic gradient T2 - Science of The Total Environment N2 - Plant functional traits are highly plastic to changes in climatic factors and nutrient availability. However, the intraspecific plant response to abiotic factors and the overall effect on tree growth and productivity is still under debate. We studied forest productivity for 30 Quercus ilex subsp. ballota forests in Spain along a broad climatic gradient of aridity (mean annual precipitation from 321 to 858 mm). We used linear mixed models to quantify the effect of climatic and edaphic (soil nutrients, topography, and texture) factors on tree functional traits (leaf and branch traits), and subsequently, the effect of such functional traits and abiotic factors on the relative growth rate (RGR) of adult trees. We used piecewise structural equation models (SEMs) to determine the causal effect of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on forest productivity. Our results showed that tree functional traits were mainly explained by climatic and edaphic factors. Functional traits and tree biomass explained forest biomass and RGR, respectively, which ultimately explained forest productivity. In conclusion, intraspecific variability of functional traits has a significant effect on plant biomass and growth, which ultimately may explain forest productivity in Quercus ilex forests. Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147468 SN - 0048-9697 SN - 1879-1026 VL - Vol. 786 ER -