Vascular Plant Traits Shape Biocrust Community Structure in a Diverse Arid Shrubland

IF 2.7 3区环境科学与生态学 Q2 ECOLOGY

Journal of Vegetation Science Pub Date : 2025-05-31 DOI:10.1111/jvs.70041

Maximiliano Bustos, Irene A. Garibotti, Adela Bernardis, Agustina C. Cottet, Mariana Tadey

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Question

Vascular plants and biocrusts are the main ground cover in drylands. Interaction between these components regulates a wide range of ecosystem functions. However, little is known about biocrusts associated with different vascular plant species, and understanding the interactions between them remains a challenge. We ask: Is biocrust community structure predicted by vascular plant species? Which vascular plant traits influence biocrust community structure and help to explain biocrust-plant interactions? Does the interaction between biocrusts and vascular plants vary across landforms?

Location

Arid shrubland in Patagonia, Argentina.

Methods

We measured the composition and cover of biocrusts growing in open interspaces and beneath different vascular plant species, and quantified canopy and root traits of the eight most abundant vascular plant species in two different landforms. We explored the specificity of biocrust-plant interactions by evaluating differences in biocrust structure in relation to multiple vascular plant traits.

Results

Biocrust cover was higher beneath vascular plant canopies than in open interspaces and increased with vegetation cover at the landscape scale. Different vascular plant species hosted different biocrust assemblages, which were partially explained by plant canopy architecture traits. However, relevant vascular plant traits differed in relation to biocrust composition or total cover. Whereas loose, large, and inverted cone-shaped canopies provided a canopy service for the development of biocrust cover, vascular plant height was strongly correlated to a gradient in biocrust composition from ruderal to slow-colonizer species.

Conclusions

Our study demonstrates that vascular plants greatly contribute to increasing biocrust heterogeneity, evidencing that biocrust-plant interaction should be accounted for in the assessment of dryland ecology and management. In addition, our results suggest trait-specificity of vascular plant-biocrust interactions, so that further field vascular plant trait-based studies have the potential to contribute to the search for general patterns of biocrust-plant interactions.

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维管植物性状影响干旱灌丛多样性生物结皮群落结构

维管植物和生物结皮是旱地的主要地被物。这些成分之间的相互作用调节着广泛的生态系统功能。然而，人们对不同维管植物物种的生物结皮知之甚少，了解它们之间的相互作用仍然是一个挑战。我们的问题是：维管植物物种是否能预测生物结皮群落结构？哪些维管植物性状影响生物结皮群落结构并有助于解释生物结皮与植物的相互作用？生物结皮与维管植物之间的相互作用是否因地形而异？地理位置阿根廷巴塔哥尼亚干旱的灌木丛。方法通过测量不同维管植物下和开放空间生物结皮的组成和盖度，定量分析两种地形中8种维管植物的冠层和根系特征。我们通过评估与多种维管植物性状相关的生物外壳结构差异，探索了生物外壳与植物相互作用的特异性。结果在景观尺度上，维管植物冠层下的生物结皮盖度高于开阔空间，并随着植被盖度的增加而增加。不同维管植物种类所承载的生物结皮组合不同，其部分原因可能与植物冠层结构特征有关。然而，维管植物的相关性状在生物结皮组成和总盖度方面存在差异。松散型、大型和倒锥形冠层为生物结皮的发育提供了冠层服务，而维管植物的高度则与生物结皮组成的梯度密切相关。结论维管植物对生物结皮异质性的增加起着重要作用，表明在旱地生态评价和管理中应考虑生物结皮与植物的相互作用。此外，我们的研究结果表明维管植物与生物外壳相互作用的性状特异性，因此，进一步的基于维管植物性状的野外研究有可能有助于寻找生物外壳与植物相互作用的一般模式。

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来源期刊

Journal of Vegetation Science 环境科学-林学

CiteScore

6.00

自引率

3.60%

发文量

审稿时长

2 months

期刊介绍： The Journal of Vegetation Science publishes papers on all aspects of plant community ecology, with particular emphasis on papers that develop new concepts or methods, test theory, identify general patterns, or that are otherwise likely to interest a broad international readership. Papers may focus on any aspect of vegetation science, e.g. community structure (including community assembly and plant functional types), biodiversity (including species richness and composition), spatial patterns (including plant geography and landscape ecology), temporal changes (including demography, community dynamics and palaeoecology) and processes (including ecophysiology), provided the focus is on increasing our understanding of plant communities. The Journal publishes papers on the ecology of a single species only if it plays a key role in structuring plant communities. Papers that apply ecological concepts, theories and methods to the vegetation management, conservation and restoration, and papers on vegetation survey should be directed to our associate journal, Applied Vegetation Science journal.