“…However, based on 532 observations from 320 species with complete root trait information (SRA and SRL) and the same sampling protocol, we are able to show here that SRA is the main trait explaining the species distribution along the RES, regardless of the selected traits, plant functional groups or phylogenetic effects. In addition, for Mediterranean vegetation SRA is more tightly correlated than SRL with the dry matter content and chemical composition of both roots and leaves (de la Riva et al, 2018Riva et al, , 2021; Abbreviations are as in Figure 1. Marañón et al, 2020); two features strongly related to metabolic rates and life span (Prieto et al, 2015;.…”