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Plant spatial patterns identify alternative ecosystem multifunctionality states in global drylands

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 1, Article number: 0003 (2017) Cite this article

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An Author Correction to this article was published on 26 January 2018

Abstract

The response of drylands to environmental gradients can be abrupt rather than gradual. These shifts largely occur unannounced and are difficult to reverse once they happen; their prompt detection is of crucial importance. The distribution of vegetation patch sizes may indicate the proximity to these shifts, but the use of this metric is hampered by a lack of large-scale studies relating these distributions to the provision of multiple ecosystem functions (multifunctionality) and comparing them to other ecosystem attributes, such as total plant cover. Here we sampled 115 dryland ecosystems across the globe and related their vegetation attributes (cover and patch size distributions) to multifunctionality. Multifunctionality followed a bimodal distribution across our sites, suggesting alternative states in the functioning of drylands. Although plant cover was the strongest predictor of multifunctionality when linear analyses were used, only patch size distributions reflected the bimodal distribution of multifunctionality observed. Differences in the coupling between nutrient cycles and in the importance of self-organizing biotic processes characterized the two multifunctionality states observed. Our findings support the use of vegetation patterns as indicators of ecosystem functioning in drylands and pave the way for developing effective strategies to monitor desertification processes.

The development of early warning signals to detect the onset of regime shifts in marine and terrestrial ecosystems has received increasing attention during the last decade1,2. Although rarely validated in natural ecosystems3, theoretical models suggest that drylands, which occupy over 41% of the Earth’s surface and host 38% of the world’s human population4, are prone to regime shifts5,6 (for example, from functional to desertified states). The early detection of these regime shifts is particularly important in these ecosystems, as desertification is a major environmental issue that affects more than 250 million people, especially in the developing world7.

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Figure 1: Main types of patch size distribution found in global drylands.
Figure 2: Drivers of the two main types of patch size distribution observed.
Figure 3: Alternative states in drylands multifunctionality.
Figure 4: Relationships between aridity and plant cover, patch size distributions and multifunctionality.

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Acknowledgements

We thank D. Eldridge, E. Allan and M. Boer for comments and inputs on earlier versions of this manuscript, C. Xu for discussions during the processing of the images and all the members of the EPES-BIOCOM network for the collection of field data. This work was funded by the European Research Council under the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) and ERC grant agreement no. 242658 (BIOCOM). M.B. was supported by a FPU fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (ref. AP2010-0759). F.T.M. acknowledges support from a Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation during writing of the manuscript. S.K. received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under grant agreement no. 283068 (CASCADE).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biología y Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnología, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, C/Tulipán s/n, Móstoles, 28933, Spain

    Miguel Berdugo & Fernando T. Maestre

  2. Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, BioDICée team, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, CC 065, Place Eugène Bataillon, Montpellier , 34095, Cedex 5, France

    Sonia Kéfi

  3. Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain, 21, 3013, Bern, Switzerland

    Santiago Soliveres

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  1. Miguel Berdugo
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  2. Sonia Kéfi
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Contributions

F.T.M. designed the study and coordinated field data acquisition. Data analyses were done by M.B., assisted by S.K. and S.S. The paper was written by M.B. and all authors substantially contributed to subsequent drafts.

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Correspondence to Miguel Berdugo.

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Berdugo, M., Kéfi, S., Soliveres, S. et al. Plant spatial patterns identify alternative ecosystem multifunctionality states in global drylands. Nat Ecol Evol 1, 0003 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-016-0003

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