Plant species diversity along a Mediterranean-desert gradient and its correlation with interannual rainfall fluctuations

Aronson, James; Shmida, A.

doi:10.1016/s0140-1963(18)30513-5

Cited by 71 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Consistent with previous reports (Le Houerou et al, 1988;Dunne et al, 1991;Aronson and Shmida, 1992;Kutiel et al, 1995;Cammeraat and Imeson, 1998;Cerdá, 1998;Imeson and Lavee, 1998;Lavee et al, 1998;Bergkamp et al, 1999;Barahona and Iriarte, 2001;Boix-Fayos et al, 2001;Ruiz-Sinoga and Romero-Diaz, 2009), the results of this study indicate that in the dry Mediterranean, symptoms of degradation intensify under semiarid environmental conditions, where the ecogeomorphological system begins to be structured by abiotic factors.…”

Section: Factors In Dry Mediterranean Environmentssupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Numerous studies have concluded that there is a correlation between vegetation diversity and rainfall where the annual rainfall exceeds 400 mm (Bowers, 1987;Aronson and Shmida, 1992;Ward and OlsvigWhittaker, 1993). However, there is also a correlation between vegetation diversity and the temporal distribution of rainfall, with rainfall at the end of summer being conducive to soil wash processes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Soil degradation factors along a Mediterranean pluviometric gradient in Southern Spain

Ruíz-Sinoga

Díaz

2010

Geomorphology

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Section: Factors In Dry Mediterranean Environmentssupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil degradation factors along a Mediterranean pluviometric gradient in Southern Spain

Ruíz-Sinoga

Díaz

2010

Geomorphology

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“…These results are consistent with previously reported patterns of increasing biomass and species richness with increasing rainfall conditions in the region (Aronson and Shmida 1992;Kutiel et al 2000). As all three community properties have been linked to competition intensity, it is likely that both inter-and intraspecific competition increased towards the higher rainfall end of the gradient (Fargione and Tilman 2005;Grime 1973;Naeem et al 2000;Tilman 1988).…”

Section: Community Propertiessupporting

confidence: 92%

Invasive species and climate change: Conyza canadensis (L.) Cronquist as a tool for assessing the invasibility of natural plant communities along an aridity gradient

Har-Edom

Sternberg

2009

Biol Invasions

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The predicted reduction in precipitation in the eastern Mediterranean due to climate change may expose the natural plant communities to invasive species. We assessed whether natural plant communities along an aridity gradient in Israel were resistant to invasion by considering differences in abiotic conditions and community characteristics in these regions. We considered Conyza canadensis as a model plant as it is a common invader in the region. We examined the mechanisms and functional traits of both the plant communities and C. canadensis that promote or discourage invasion. Study sites represented a rainfall gradient with four ecosystem types: mesic Mediterranean, Mediterranean, semiarid and arid. Our results showed that the mechanisms of community invasion resistance varied along the aridity gradient. At the arid and semiarid sites, water deficiency impaired the establishment of C. canadensis. At the mesic Mediterranean site, plant competition had a negative effect on C. canadensis performance, thus greatly reducing the likelihood of its establishment. We conclude that a decrease in regional precipitation due to climate change may not affect intrinsic resistance characteristics of natural plant communities to invasion in the area.

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“…Pausas and Austin (2001) point out that the main factors determining species richness at the local level are resource availability and response to environmental variables that have a direct impact on plant growth or on available resources. This concept of a resource boundary is similar in concept to the optimal curve theory proposed by Grime (1979), Tilman (1982), Aronson and Shimida (1992), Cox et al (2006) to describe the relationship between species richness and various abiotic factors. An ''extreme quantile curve estimation'' approach was used to approximate the boundary conditions of significant explanatory variables identified in the GLM.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Patterns of tree species richness in Jalisco, Mexico: relation to topography, climate and forest structure

et al. 2010

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Abstact The objective of this study was to identify the major environmental variables and components of forest structure associated with variability in tree species richness on a network of 806 permanent plots in the State of Jalisco, Mexico. Tree data recorded on the sample plots were used to characterize tree species richness by forest type and climatic conditions (temperature and precipitation) in the State. Species composition and other diversity indices were also calculated. Explanatory variables identified in a Poisson regression identified forest cover type, elevation, tree basal area, canopy closure, and winter precipitation as being important to changes in tree species richness. An ''extreme quantile curve estimation'' approach was then used to approximate the boundary that represented the maximum potential species richness response to the various levels of important variables. Maximum tree species richness decreased with increasing elevation. The relationships between maximum species richness and tree basal area, canopy closure, and winter precipitation followed a hump-back unimodal model, with intermediate values supporting the largest species richness. We believe that results of the current study will contribute to further development of a conservation plan for tree species in the State of Jalisco, Mexico.

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Plant species diversity along a Mediterranean-desert gradient and its correlation with interannual rainfall fluctuations

Cited by 71 publications

References 19 publications

Soil degradation factors along a Mediterranean pluviometric gradient in Southern Spain

Soil degradation factors along a Mediterranean pluviometric gradient in Southern Spain

Invasive species and climate change: Conyza canadensis (L.) Cronquist as a tool for assessing the invasibility of natural plant communities along an aridity gradient

Patterns of tree species richness in Jalisco, Mexico: relation to topography, climate and forest structure

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