TY - JOUR
T1 - Spatial Heterogeneity Effects on Meta-Community Stability of Annual Plants from a Coastal Dune Ecosystem
AU - Bar, Pua
AU - Katz, Ofir
AU - Dorman, Michael
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by the Israeli Nature and Park Authority.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.
PY - 2023/6/1
Y1 - 2023/6/1
N2 - Spatial heterogeneity affects plant community composition and diversity. It is particularly noticeable in annual plant communities, which vary in space and time over short distances and periods, forming meta-communities at the regional scale. This study was conducted at the coastal dune ecosystem in Nizzanim nature reserve, Israel. This study aimed to analyze the effect of the spatial heterogeneity, which is expressed in differences in the fixation levels of the dunes and patches outside and beneath the dominant Artemisia monosperma shrubs, on the characteristics of the annual plant meta-community and its temporal stability, considering the mechanisms that may affect it. Thirteen dunes were studied: three mobile, seven semi-fixed, and three fixed dunes. Data on the annual plants were collected during the spring seasons of 2006, 2007, 2009, 2014, 2015, and 2016. For each dune, 72 quadrats of (Formula presented.) cm were sampled yearly, with 24 quadrats per slope aspect (windward, leeward, and crest), 12 under the shrub, and 12 in the open. The results indicate that the transition from mobile dunes through semi-fixed to fixed dunes is characterized by an increase in annual plant cover, species richness, species diversity, changes in plant communities, and stability driven by the asynchrony of species population fluctuations. Asynchrony affected the stability of the meta-community of this ecosystem in patches beneath the shrubs but not in the open patches.
AB - Spatial heterogeneity affects plant community composition and diversity. It is particularly noticeable in annual plant communities, which vary in space and time over short distances and periods, forming meta-communities at the regional scale. This study was conducted at the coastal dune ecosystem in Nizzanim nature reserve, Israel. This study aimed to analyze the effect of the spatial heterogeneity, which is expressed in differences in the fixation levels of the dunes and patches outside and beneath the dominant Artemisia monosperma shrubs, on the characteristics of the annual plant meta-community and its temporal stability, considering the mechanisms that may affect it. Thirteen dunes were studied: three mobile, seven semi-fixed, and three fixed dunes. Data on the annual plants were collected during the spring seasons of 2006, 2007, 2009, 2014, 2015, and 2016. For each dune, 72 quadrats of (Formula presented.) cm were sampled yearly, with 24 quadrats per slope aspect (windward, leeward, and crest), 12 under the shrub, and 12 in the open. The results indicate that the transition from mobile dunes through semi-fixed to fixed dunes is characterized by an increase in annual plant cover, species richness, species diversity, changes in plant communities, and stability driven by the asynchrony of species population fluctuations. Asynchrony affected the stability of the meta-community of this ecosystem in patches beneath the shrubs but not in the open patches.
KW - asynchrony
KW - fixed dunes
KW - Israel
KW - mobile dunes
KW - open and shrub patches
KW - semi-fixed dunes
KW - spatial scales
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85161587974&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/plants12112151
DO - 10.3390/plants12112151
M3 - Article
C2 - 37299130
AN - SCOPUS:85161587974
SN - 2223-7747
VL - 12
JO - Plants
JF - Plants
IS - 11
M1 - 2151
ER -