Root economics spectrum and construction costs in Mediterranean woody plants: The role of symbiotic associations and the environment

Many studies have quantified the functional variation of fine root traits to understand 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. Our main aim was to quantify CC of fine roots (