Root foraging strategies and niche segregation of three Mediterranean shrub species

Shrubs are usually adapted to stressful environments in which soil resources are limited, and thus, roots are fundamental for their biological success. However, root measures are challenging to collect, especially in field conditions and at the individual level. For this study, we collected data on the three-dimensional distribution of fine root biomass of twenty-three individuals belonging to three shrub species in a Mediterranean shrubland in Central Spain: gum rockrose (Cistus ladanifer L.), rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus Schleid.), and hairy-fruited broom (Cytisus striatus [Hill] Rothm). Our goal was to determine the soil-foraging strategies adopted by the plants. We hypothesized that plants would show stabilizing niche differences explaining the high plant biodiversity characteristic of Mediterranean shrublands and that they would follow the game theory model’s prediction of exploitative segregation of roots behaving territorially but also over-proliferating roots close to their stem ..., , , # Root foraging strategies and niche segregation of three Mediterranean shrub species

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.brv15dvhz](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.brv15dvhz)

This dataset includes information about aboveground and belowground biomass and plant structure of individuals belonging to three species, rosemary (*Salvia rosmarinus* Schleid., Lamiaceae), gum rockrose (*Cistus ladanifer* L., Cistaceae), and hairy-fruited broom (*Cytisus striatus* [Hill] Rothm, Fabaceae), collected in a Mediterranean shrubland in Central Spain. This dataset is organized into three data sheets in format *.txt*. First, it includes information about plant individuals of rosemary and rockrose in the same study site of which we measured aboveground labile biomass allocation (.e., reproductive allocation and leaf and branch turnover) (**D-CAN-plants**). Second, it includes, for another subset of plants of the same species for which we measured the root density distribution in soil, information about each...