Table 1.

Mediterranean morphological and physiological traits related to water stress avoidance and the bibliographic support.

Strategy level	Mechanisms	References
Water uptake capacity	Deep-root system	Baldocchi and Xu 2007 Castell et al. 1994 David et al 2007 Filella and Peñuelas 2003b Hernández-Santana et al. 2008 Lefi et al. 2004 Mattia et al. 2005 Mereu et al. 2009 Moreno et al. 2005 Padilla and Pugnaire 2007 Silva and Rego 2003 Veneeklas and Poot 2003 West et al. 2012
	Root system plasticity	Padilla et al. 2007
Leaf mechanical structures to avoid water losses	Thick cuticule and high leaf mass area (LMA)	Bussotti et al. 2000 De Mico and Aronne 2009 Limousin et al. 2010 Sardans et al. 2006a
	High density of trichomes	Filella et al. 1999 Galmés et al. 2007b
	High plasticity of morphology and size	Hoff and Rambal 2003 Limousin et al. 2010
Control of water transport	Maintainance of water lift	Díaz-Barradas et al. 2010 Filella and Peñuelas 2003a Kurz-Besson et al. 2006 Oliveras et al. 2003 Prieto et al. 2010a,b Ripullone et al. 2009 Sofo et al. 2008
	Large resistence to xylem cavitation	Nardini et al. 2000 Martínez-Villata and Piñol 2002 Martínez-Vilalta et al. 2003 De Mico and Aronne 2009 Vilagrosa et al. 2010
	High stomatal control	Deffine et al. 2001 Fotelli et al. 2000 Galmes et al. 2007a Grant et al. 2010 Lefi et al. 2004 Lo Gullo et al. 2003 Misson et al. 2010 Peña-Rojas et al. 2004 Ripullone et al. 2009 Vaz et al. 2010
Improving water retention capacity	Increasing cell turgor capacity by enhancing the concentration of metabolites and/or water soluble sugars	Otiene et al. 2006 Rivas-Ubach et al. 2012 Sofo et al 2004 and 2008 Vilagrosa et al. 2010 Volaire 1995
Reducing water losses	Reducing metabolic activity	Maseyk et al. 2008 Rivas-Ubach et al. 2012
Protection against oxidative stress	Antioxidant mechanisms	Hernández et al. 2004 Munné-Bosch and Lalueza 2007 Sofo et al. 2004