Premium
Connectivity of Niches of Adaptation Affects Vegetation Structure and Density in Self‐Organized (Dis‐Connected) Vegetation Patterns
Author(s) -
Callegaro Chiara,
Ursino Nadia
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
land degradation and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.403
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1099-145X
pISSN - 1085-3278
DOI - 10.1002/ldr.2759
Subject(s) - ecological niche , ecology , niche , vegetation (pathology) , environmental science , ecosystem , surface runoff , adaptation (eye) , facilitation , ecohydrology , ecological network , biology , habitat , medicine , pathology , neuroscience
Self‐organized vegetation patterns are efficient rainfall harvesting systems, where runoff flow paths are highly dis‐connected. Runoff is generated over bare, crusted areas and diverted toward vegetated patches with higher infiltration capacity. The ecosystem structure is the result of scarce rainfall, local facilitation and adaptation of vegetation. An ecological model for the dynamics of two plant species and soil water content is used here as an instrument to investigate the hypothesis that ecological connectivity of adaptation niches could upscale to hydrological dis‐connectivity, with positive feedback on water use efficiency. We investigated the interrelation between ecological niche connectivity and landscape scale hydrological connectivity quantitatively, by the definition of a new ecological connectivity index and the analysis of several niche differentiation scenarios, including neatly separate, continuous or overlapping ecological niches. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.