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Influence of habitat patchiness on diversity patterns of a habitat specialist plant community
Author(s) -
GilLópez Manuel J.,
SegarraMoragues José G.,
Ojeda Fernando
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of vegetation science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1654-1103
pISSN - 1100-9233
DOI - 10.1111/jvs.12488
Subject(s) - abundance (ecology) , generalist and specialist species , ecology , species richness , habitat , biodiversity , beta diversity , relative species abundance , mediterranean climate , geography , species diversity , disturbance (geology) , plant community , geology , biology , paleontology
Question Does the number and relative abundance of sandstone specialist woody species in Mediterranean heathland ( herriza ) communities of the Strait of Gibraltar decrease with increasing sandstone patch isolation? If so, does this reduction suggest deterministic (ecological filtering) or random (ecological drift) effects? Location Strait of Gibraltar region. Methods We recorded the identity and relative abundance of sandstone specialist and generalist woody plant species in 26 herriza samples. We then calculated the degree of sandstone patch isolation of each herriza sample and used generalized linear regression models to examine the effect of sandstone patch isolation on species richness and relative abundance of woody species in the herriza communities, separately for sandstone specialist and generalist species. We finally compared beta‐diversity values among herriza samples from the two sides of the Strait of Gibraltar. Results Increasing sandstone patch isolation determined a loss of sandstone specialist species in herriza communities. This loss of sandstone specialist species is more pronounced in the African side of the Strait, where overall sandstone patch isolation is higher, suggesting that this is a random process (ecological drift) that resulted in higher beta‐diversity between herrizas in Tangier. Conclusions This study highlights the high vulnerability of the highly biodiverse herriza or Mediterranean heathland in the African side of the Strait of Gibraltar as a consequence of its overall higher sandstone patchiness.