The interplay between facilitation and habitat type drives spatial vegetation patterns in global drylands
The spatial configuration of vascular vegetation has been linked to variations in land degradation and ecosystem functioning in drylands. However, most studies on spatial patterns conducted to date have focused on a single or a few study sites within a particular region, specific vegetation types, o...
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ftunivalicante:oai:rua.ua.es:10045/91188 2023-05-15T13:46:48+02:00 The interplay between facilitation and habitat type drives spatial vegetation patterns in global drylands Berdugo, Miguel Soliveres, Santiago Kéfi, Sonia Maestre, Fernando T. Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Ecología Gestión de Ecosistemas y de la Biodiversidad (GEB) 2019-04 http://hdl.handle.net/10045/91188 https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.03795 eng eng Wiley https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.03795 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/283068 Ecography. 2019, 42(4): 755-767. doi:10.1111/ecog.03795 0906-7590 (Print) 1600-0587 (Online) http://hdl.handle.net/10045/91188 doi:10.1111/ecog.03795 © 2018 The Authors. Ecography © 2018 Nordic Society Oikos info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Patch-size distributions Aridity Regular spatial patterns Ecología info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2019 ftunivalicante https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.03795 2020-10-06T23:15:44Z The spatial configuration of vascular vegetation has been linked to variations in land degradation and ecosystem functioning in drylands. However, most studies on spatial patterns conducted to date have focused on a single or a few study sites within a particular region, specific vegetation types, or in landscapes characterized by a certain type of spatial patterns. Therefore, little is known on the general typology and distribution of plant spatial patterns in drylands worldwide, and on the relative importance of biotic and abiotic factors as predictors of their variations across geographical regions and habitat types. We analyzed 115 dryland plant communities from all continents except Antarctica to: 1) investigate the general typology of spatial patterns, and 2) assess the relative importance of biotic (plant cover, frequency of facilitation, soil amelioration, height of the dominant species) and abiotic (aridity, rainfall seasonality and sand content) factors as predictors of spatial patterns (median patch size, shape of patch‐size distribution and regularity) across contrasting habitat types (shrublands and grasslands). Precipitation during the warmest period and sand content were particularly strong predictors of plant spatial patterns in grasslands and shrublands, respectively. Facilitation associated with power‐law like and irregular spatial patterns in both shrublands and grasslands, although it was mediated by different mechanisms (respectively soil ammelioration and percentage of facilitated species). The importance of biotic attributes as predictors of the shape of patch‐size distributions declined with aridity in both habitats, leading to the emergence of more regular patterns under the most arid conditions. Our results expand our knowledge about patch formation in drylands and the habitat‐dependency of their drivers. They also highlight different ways in which facilitation affects ecosystem structure through the formation of plant spatial patterns. This work was funded by the European Research Council (ERC Grant agreements 242658 [BIOCOM] and 647038 [BIODESERT]). MB was supported by a FPU fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (ref. AP2010-0759). FTM acknowledges support from a Research Award from the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation. SS was supported by the Spanish Government under a Ramón y Cajal contract (RYC-2016-20604). The research of SK has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 283068 (CASCADE). Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica RUA - Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Alicante Ecography 42 4 755 767 |
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RUA - Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Alicante |
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ftunivalicante |
language |
English |
topic |
Patch-size distributions Aridity Regular spatial patterns Ecología |
spellingShingle |
Patch-size distributions Aridity Regular spatial patterns Ecología Berdugo, Miguel Soliveres, Santiago Kéfi, Sonia Maestre, Fernando T. The interplay between facilitation and habitat type drives spatial vegetation patterns in global drylands |
topic_facet |
Patch-size distributions Aridity Regular spatial patterns Ecología |
description |
The spatial configuration of vascular vegetation has been linked to variations in land degradation and ecosystem functioning in drylands. However, most studies on spatial patterns conducted to date have focused on a single or a few study sites within a particular region, specific vegetation types, or in landscapes characterized by a certain type of spatial patterns. Therefore, little is known on the general typology and distribution of plant spatial patterns in drylands worldwide, and on the relative importance of biotic and abiotic factors as predictors of their variations across geographical regions and habitat types. We analyzed 115 dryland plant communities from all continents except Antarctica to: 1) investigate the general typology of spatial patterns, and 2) assess the relative importance of biotic (plant cover, frequency of facilitation, soil amelioration, height of the dominant species) and abiotic (aridity, rainfall seasonality and sand content) factors as predictors of spatial patterns (median patch size, shape of patch‐size distribution and regularity) across contrasting habitat types (shrublands and grasslands). Precipitation during the warmest period and sand content were particularly strong predictors of plant spatial patterns in grasslands and shrublands, respectively. Facilitation associated with power‐law like and irregular spatial patterns in both shrublands and grasslands, although it was mediated by different mechanisms (respectively soil ammelioration and percentage of facilitated species). The importance of biotic attributes as predictors of the shape of patch‐size distributions declined with aridity in both habitats, leading to the emergence of more regular patterns under the most arid conditions. Our results expand our knowledge about patch formation in drylands and the habitat‐dependency of their drivers. They also highlight different ways in which facilitation affects ecosystem structure through the formation of plant spatial patterns. This work was funded by the European Research Council (ERC Grant agreements 242658 [BIOCOM] and 647038 [BIODESERT]). MB was supported by a FPU fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (ref. AP2010-0759). FTM acknowledges support from a Research Award from the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation. SS was supported by the Spanish Government under a Ramón y Cajal contract (RYC-2016-20604). The research of SK has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 283068 (CASCADE). |
author2 |
Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Ecología Gestión de Ecosistemas y de la Biodiversidad (GEB) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Berdugo, Miguel Soliveres, Santiago Kéfi, Sonia Maestre, Fernando T. |
author_facet |
Berdugo, Miguel Soliveres, Santiago Kéfi, Sonia Maestre, Fernando T. |
author_sort |
Berdugo, Miguel |
title |
The interplay between facilitation and habitat type drives spatial vegetation patterns in global drylands |
title_short |
The interplay between facilitation and habitat type drives spatial vegetation patterns in global drylands |
title_full |
The interplay between facilitation and habitat type drives spatial vegetation patterns in global drylands |
title_fullStr |
The interplay between facilitation and habitat type drives spatial vegetation patterns in global drylands |
title_full_unstemmed |
The interplay between facilitation and habitat type drives spatial vegetation patterns in global drylands |
title_sort |
interplay between facilitation and habitat type drives spatial vegetation patterns in global drylands |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10045/91188 https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.03795 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.03795 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/283068 Ecography. 2019, 42(4): 755-767. doi:10.1111/ecog.03795 0906-7590 (Print) 1600-0587 (Online) http://hdl.handle.net/10045/91188 doi:10.1111/ecog.03795 |
op_rights |
© 2018 The Authors. Ecography © 2018 Nordic Society Oikos info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.03795 |
container_title |
Ecography |
container_volume |
42 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
755 |
op_container_end_page |
767 |
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1766245240309547008 |