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Does spatial pattern matter to ecosystem functioning? Insights from biological soil crusts

  1. F. T. MAESTRE1,*,
  2. A. ESCUDERO2,
  3. I. MARTINEZ2,
  4. C. GUERRERO3,
  5. A. RUBIO4

Article first published online: 19 AUG 2005

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2005.01000.x

Issue

Functional Ecology

Functional Ecology

Volume 19, Issue 4, pages 566–573, August 2005

Additional Information

How to Cite

MAESTRE, F. T., ESCUDERO, A., MARTINEZ, I., GUERRERO, C. and RUBIO, A. (2005), Does spatial pattern matter to ecosystem functioning? Insights from biological soil crusts. Functional Ecology, 19: 566–573. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2005.01000.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Biology, Duke University, Phytotron Building, Science Drive, Box 90340, Durham, NC 27708-0340, USA,

  2. 2

    Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, ESCET, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 28933 Móstoles,

  3. 3

    Departamento de Agroquímica y Medio Ambiente, Universidad Miguel Hernández, 03202 Elche, and

  4. 4

    Departamento de Silvopascicultura, ETSI Montes, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain

* †Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: maestre@duke.edu

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 19 AUG 2005
  2. Article first published online: 19 AUG 2005
  3. Received 7 January 2005; revised 18 March 2005; accepted 25 March 2005

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Keywords:

  • community attributes;
  • lichens;
  • mosses;
  • heterogeneity

Summary

  • 1
    Theoretical and modelling studies highlight the importance of the spatial patterns of organisms for ecosystem functioning, stability and dynamics. However, there is little empirical evidence as to their importance as drivers of such ecosystem attributes.
  • 2
    We evaluated the relationships between different biological soil crust attributes (spatial pattern, cover and diversity) and ecosystem functioning in two semiarid areas differing in the developmental stage of these crusts.
  • 3
    We found a significant direct relationship between spatial pattern and both soil bulk density and respiration (surrogates of ecosystem infiltration and nutrient cycling, respectively) at one of our study sites. However, the strength of such a relationship was lower than that found between attributes such as cover and evenness and the same ecosystem functioning surrogates.
  • 4
    Our results represent, to our knowledge, some of the first empirical evidence linking the spatial pattern of a community and ecosystem functioning. They also suggest that the importance of spatial pattern as a driver of ecosystem functioning may depend on community attributes such as cover and diversity, and that its importance may be lower than that of these attributes.
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