Study
Maximum rooting depth of vegetation types at the global scale
Canadell, J.; Jackson, R. B.; Ehleringer, J. R.; Mooney, H. A.; Sala, O. E.; Schulze, E.-D.
Oecologia, 1996
Records of the deepest roots ever observed for particular species and vegetation types — many of them incidental finds in mines, boreholes and road cuttings — were compiled and grouped by biome.
- Studied in
- Tracheophyta
- Sample size
- 290 observations of maximum rooting depth
Maximum depths are far greater than average depths and vary enormously by vegetation type: a few metres in tundra, tens of metres in some desert shrubs and tropical savanna trees, with the deepest verified roots over 60 metres down.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Maximum rooting depth differs systematically between biomes and is often much deeper than assumed by ecosystem models.
How NatureHQ reads it
The necessary companion to the shallow-plate finding, and the reason NatureHQ states both. Most roots are shallow; the deepest roots are astonishingly deep. Both are true because they answer different questions — where the mass is, and how far a species will go for water it cannot otherwise reach. Quoting either alone produces a confident and misleading picture.
- Maximum depths are chance observations, so absence of a deep record is not evidence of absence.
- The deepest values often come from single individuals in unusual settings.
- Depth reached is not the same as the amount of water actually taken from that depth.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Published by: Springer journalsPublished in a Springer journal.
This reference was resolved automatically against Crossref and OpenAlex on 2026-08-30.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-08-30.