%0 Journal Article %A Andivia Muñoz, Enrique %A Zuccarini, Paolo %A Grau, Beatriz %A Herralde, Felicidad de %A Villar Salvador, Pedro %A Savé, Robert %T Rooting big and deep rapidly: the ecological roots of pine species distribution in the southern Europe %D 2019 %@ 0931-1890 %U http://hdl.handle.net/10017/37871 %X Root properties can influence plant drought resistance, and consequently plant species distribution. Root structurestrongly varies across biomes partly as a result of phylogeny. However, whether the spatial distribution of phylogeneticallyclose plant species is linked to differences in root properties remains unclear. We examined whether root properties mediatethe strong correlation between summer drought intensity and the spatial segregation of pine species native to southernEurope. For this, we compared the seedling root growth and structure of five ecologically distinct pine species grown in360 L rhizotrons for 19 months under typical hot and dry Mediterranean conditions. We studied the mountain and boreoalpinepines Pinus sylvestris and Pinus nigra, and the Mediterranean pines Pinus pinaster, Pinus pinea, and Pinus halepensis.Mediterranean pines formed deep roots faster than mountain pines, their shoots and roots grew faster and had higherroot growth, especially P. halepensis, at low air temperature. By the end of the study, Mediterranean pines had larger rootsystems than mountain pines. Neither distribution of root mass with depth nor root-to-shoot mass ratio varied significantlyamong species. Across species, minimal annual rainfall to which species are exposed in their range related negatively to rootgrowth but positively to specific root length and the time needed for roots to reach a depth of 40 cm. This study highlightsthe importance of root growth as a driver of pine distribution in southern Europe and suggests that rapidly producing a large,deep root system may be a key attribute for pines to colonize dry Mediterranean locations. %K Drought resistance %K Pinus %K Rhizotron %K Root growth %K Root structure %K Rooting depth %K Specific root length %K Medio Ambiente %K Environmental science %~ Biblioteca Universidad de Alcala