Biogeography of global drylands

Maestre, Fernando T.; Benito, Blas M.; Berdugo, Miguel; Concostrina‐Zubiri, Laura; Delgado‐Baquerizo, Manuel; Eldridge, David J.; Guirado, Emilio; Gross, Nicolas; Kéfi, Sonia; Bagousse‐Pinguet, Yoann Le; Ochoa‐Hueso, Raúl; Soliveres, Santiago

doi:10.1111/nph.17395

Cited by 210 publications

(127 citation statements)

References 138 publications

(244 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

119

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…This family of trait distributions exhibited lower kurtosis than under the neutral scenario, that is, a pattern similar to the empirical SKRs observed in drylands worldwide (Gross et al, 2017). Together, our results suggest that niche differentiation and stochastic processes jointly shaped the high trait diversity often observed in dryland plant communities (see Maestre et al, 2021, for a review, and references therein). Moreover, when simulating along an environmental gradient, the disruptive scenario also reproduced the impact of environmental filtering by reducing variance and increasing the kurtosis within communities (Figure S3), and the shift in dominance of contrasting functional groups (e.g.…”

Section: Linking Theoretical Predictions To Empirical Patterns Of Trait Diversitysupporting

confidence: 81%

Unveiling ecological assembly rules from commonalities in trait distributions

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Deciphering the effect of neutral and deterministic processes on community assembly is critical to understand and predict diversity patterns. The information held in community trait distributions is commonly assumed as a signature of these processes, but empirical and modelling attempts have most often failed to untangle their confounding, sometimes opposing, impacts. Here, we simulated the assembly of trait distributions through stochastic (dispersal limitation) and/or deterministic scenarios (environmental filtering and niche differentiation). We characterized the shape of trait distributions using the skewness–kurtosis relationship. We identified commonalities in the co‐variation between the skewness and the kurtosis of trait distributions with a unique signature for each simulated assembly scenario. Our findings were robust to variation in the composition of regional species pools, dispersal limitation and environmental conditions. While ecological communities can exhibit a high degree of idiosyncrasy, identification of commonalities across multiple communities can help to unveil ecological assembly rules in real‐world ecosystems.

show abstract

Section: Linking Theoretical Predictions To Empirical Patterns Of Trait Diversitysupporting

confidence: 81%

Unveiling ecological assembly rules from commonalities in trait distributions

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…At the community scale, drylands are paradigmatic examples exhibiting high richness, both in the number of species and in the functional traits of their communities (Maestre et al, 2021). Such richness is a key buffer against climate change because rich communities likely contain species that might be able to adapt better than others to more constraining environmental conditions, enhancing ecosystem resilience (i.e.…”

Section: Rainfall Formationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Besides, direct symbiosis exist between certain components of microbial communities (such as mycorrhiza) and plants that are mutually beneficial to both (Bahram et al, 2020). Finally, in drylands, where the main limiting factors are water and nutrients, soil is a major driver of plant-plant interactions (Maestre et al, 2021;Ochoa-Hueso et al, 2018). The degree of interconnection between all these processes makes that a sudden change in any of them propagates easily to the others, amplifying the changes in a feedback loop.…”

Section: Mechanis Ms Link Ed To S O I L Disruption Pha Sementioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological mechanisms underlying aridity thresholds in global drylands

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

1. With ongoing climate change, the probability of crossing environmental thresholds promoting abrupt changes in ecosystem structure and functioning is higher than ever. In drylands (areas where it rains <65% of what could be potentially evaporated), recent research has shown how the crossing of three aridity thresholds [at aridity (1-Aridity Index) values of 0.54, 0.70 and 0.80] leads to abrupt changes on ecosystem structural and functional attributes. Despite the importance of these findings and their implications to develop effective monitoring and adaptation actions to combat climate change and desertification, we lack a proper understanding of the mechanisms unleashing these abrupt shifts. 2. Here we review multiple mechanisms that may explain the existence of aridity thresholds observed across global drylands, and discuss the potential amplification mechanisms that may underpin hypothetical abrupt temporal shifts with climate change. 3. We propose that each aridity threshold is caused by different and specific mechanisms. The first threshold is mainly caused by physiological mechanisms of plant adaptation to water shortages. The second threshold is unleashed by different mechanisms involving soil processes and plant-soil interactions such as soil erosion, plant community shifts and nutrient cycling and circulation. The collapse of vegetation observed once the third aridity threshold (0.8) is crossed is caused by the mechanisms related to the survival limits of plants that may cause sudden cover and diversity losses and plant-atmospheric feedbacks that link vegetation collapse with further climate aridification.4. By identifying, revising and linking relevant mechanisms to each aridity threshold observed, we provide a set of specific hypotheses and identify knowledge gaps concerning the study of threshold emergence in drylands. We were also able to establish plausible factors that are context dependent and may influence the occurrence of abrupt ecosystem changes in time. Our review may help to focus future research efforts on aridity thresholds and to develop strategies to monitor, adapt to or even revert abrupt ecosystem changes across global drylands.

show abstract

“…Drylands include a range of biomes from desert and arid steppe, to dry savannas and shrublands and seasonal woodlands, each with unique communities of flora and fauna (Maestre et al, 2021). Dryland species have adapted to a range of environmental extremes (particularly drought, herbivory and fire) which in some areas has led to high levels of diversification and hotspots of plant biodiversity, including the dry shrublands and forests of South and Central America, interior Australia and the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa.…”

Section: Dryland Biodiversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

A Role for Drylands in a Carbon Neutral World?

Hanan

Milne

Aynekulu

et al. 2021

Front. Environ. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Drylands are a critical part of the earth system in terms of total area, socioeconomic and ecological importance. However, while drylands are known for their contribution to inter-annual atmospheric CO2 variability, they are sometimes overlooked in discussions of global carbon stocks. Here, in preparation for the November 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), we review dryland systems with emphasis on their role in current and future carbon storage, response to climate change and potential to contribute to a carbon neutral future. Current estimates of carbon in dryland soils and vegetation suggest they are significant at global scale, containing approximately 30% of global carbon in above and below-ground biomass, and surface-layer soil carbon (top 30 cm). As ecosystems that are limited by water, the drylands are vulnerable to climate change. Climate change impacts are, however, dependent on future trends in rainfall that include both drying and wetting trends at regional scales. Regional rainfall trends will initiate trends in dryland productivity, vegetation structure and soil carbon storage. However, while management of fire and herbivory can contribute to increased carbon sequestration, impacts are dependent on locally unique ecosystem responses and climate-soil-plant interactions. Similarly, while community based agroforestry initiatives have been successful in some areas, large-scale afforestation programs are logistically infeasible and sometimes ecologically inappropriate at larger scales. As climate changes, top-down prescriptive measures designed to increase carbon storage should be avoided in favour of locally-adapted approaches that balance carbon management priorities with local livelihoods, ecosystem function, biodiversity and cultural, social and economic priorities.

show abstract

Biogeography of global drylands

Cited by 210 publications

References 138 publications

Unveiling ecological assembly rules from commonalities in trait distributions

Unveiling ecological assembly rules from commonalities in trait distributions

Ecological mechanisms underlying aridity thresholds in global drylands

A Role for Drylands in a Carbon Neutral World?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About