Data from: Climatic disequilibrium of recruit communities across a drought-induced die-off gradient in Mediterranean shrubland
Data files
May 23, 2024 version files 1.18 MB
Abstract
Positive plant–plant interactions (facilitation) may enhance the recruitment and establishment of species less adapted to local macroclimatic conditions. A major cause of this effect is climatic buffering, which implies an increased mismatch between the macroclimatic conditions and the climatic requirements of the existing community – climatic disequilibrium – of plants living under canopies. Here we explore the effect of drought-induced defoliation of Mediterranean shrubland canopy on the recruitment of woody species. We analyzed the differences in the climatic disequilibrium across different categories of canopy defoliation and plant–plant interactions: facilitation, neutral and inhibition. Climatic disequilibrium was estimated as the Euclidean distance in the multivariate environmental space between observed macroclimate and community inferred climate. The inferred climate was calculated by averaging the coordinates of the species’ climatic niche centroids, obtained from species distribution, weighted by the species' relative abundances in each community. We found that the recruiting community growing under canopy showed higher climatic disequilibrium than the community growing in the gaps. The facilitated recruiting community growing under dead and living canopy showed the highest disequilibrium, followed by the community growing under mid-affected canopy. The climatic disequilibrium of the recruiting communities experiencing neutral and inhibited interaction was not affected by canopy defoliation. These findings indicate that the climatic disequilibrium of the recruiting community is determined by the facilitation–competition balance. Living canopy provides climatic buffering, but it also implies competition, while dead canopy may provide some structural climatic buffering, without implying competition for resources. These results highlight the relevance of incorporating plant–plant interactions, particularly facilitation, to better forecast plant community responses to extreme climate events and climate change.
README: DATASET DESCRIPTION
"species_climatic_niches.xlsx" contains the centroids coordinates in the common climatic space (PCA1 and PCA2) for all the studied species.
. "species": valid scientific name of studied species
. "centroid_pca1": axis 1 coordinate in the common climatic space for each studied species
. "centroid_pca2": axis 2 coordinate in the common climatic space for each studied species
"recruitment_data.xlsx" for every recruit registered contains species, kind of interaction with canopy, kind of nurse (gap, alive, affected or dead canopy), number of recruits per plot, latitude and longitude of the plot and centroid coordinates of their climatic niche.
. "plot": identificator of each plot
. "lat": UTM latitude coordinate of each plot
. "long": UTM longitude coordinate of each plot
. "species": valid scientific name of studied species
. "n": number of recruits of each species belonging to each categorical group
. "nurse": description of the canopy cover category experienced by recruits. There are four levels: "gap" for recruits growing in open habitats; "dead" for recruits growing under canopies 90% defoliated or more; "affected" for recruits growing under canopies with defoliation between 90% - 30%, "alive" for recruits growing under canopies 30% defoliated or less
. "interaction": description of the kind of interaction registered between recruits of each studied species and the adults individuals. There are three levels: "inhibited" for species prone to be found in open habitats; "neutre" for species randomly distributed; "facilitated" for species prone to be found under canopies.
. "Axis 1": axis 1 coordinate in the common climatic space for each plot
. "Axis 2": axis 2 coordinate in the common climatic space for each plot
"observed_expected_recruits.xlsx" for every species plot contains observed number of recruit under canopy, total number of recruits, canopy plot percent and expected number of recruits under canopy.
. "plot": identificator of each plot
. "lat": UTM latitude coordinate of each plot
. "long": UTM longitude coordinate of each plot
. "species": valid scientific name of studied species
. "observed": number of recruits of each species growing under canopy per plot
. "total_recruits": number of recruits of each species per plot
. "canopy_percent": plot percentage covered by canopy
. "expected": number of recuits of each species expected to be found growing under canopy if they were randomly distributed in the plot. It is calculated as the product bvetween total number of recruits and plot canopy cover.
. "obs-exp": difference between the observed number of recruits under canopy and the expected number of recruits growing under canopy considering plot canopy cover.
"climatic_disequilibrium_nurse.xlsx" contains climatic disequilibirum of in gaps, under alive canopy, under affected canopy or under dead canopy subcommunity present in the plots.
. "plot": identificator of each plot
. "nurse": description of the canopy cover category experienced by recruits.
. "nurse_code": identificator of each subcommunity, composed y plot identificator and canopy cover category
. "n": number of recruits of each species belonging to each subcommunity.
. "oc_x": axis 1 coordinate in the common climatic space for each plot and, therefore, experienced by the subcomunities (observed climate).
. "oc_y": axis 2 coordinate in the common climatic space for each plot and, therefore, experienced by the subcomunities (observed climate).
. "cic_x": axis 1 coordinate in the common climatic space for each subcommunity, calculated through species centroid axis 1 coordinate (community inferred climate)
. "cic_y": axis 2 coordinate in the common climatic space for each subcommunity, calculated through species centroid axis 2 coordinate (community inferred climate)
. "cd": climatic disequilibrium of each subcommunity calculated as the difference between observed climate and community inferred climate.
"climatic_disequilibrium_recruit_canopy_interaction.xlsx" contains climatic disequilibirum of facilitated, with neutral relation or inhibited by canopysubcommunity present in the plots.
. "plot": identificator of each plot
. "interaction": description of the kind of interaction estimated between each species recruits and canopy
. "interaction_code": identificator of each subcommunity, composed y plot identificator and kind of recruit-canopy interaction
. "n": number of recruits of each species belonging to each subcommunity.
. "oc_x": axis 1 coordinate in the common climatic space for each plot and, therefore, experienced by the subcomunities (observed climate).
. "oc_y": axis 2 coordinate in the common climatic space for each plot and, therefore, experienced by the subcomunities (observed climate).
. "cic_x": axis 1 coordinate in the common climatic space for each subcommunity, calculated through species centroid axis 1 coordinate (community inferred climate)
. "cic_y": axis 2 coordinate in the common climatic space for each subcommunity, calculated through species centroid axis 2 coordinate (community inferred climate)
. "cd": climatic disequilibrium of each subcommunity calculated as the difference between observed climate and community inferred climate.
"climatic_disequilibrium_recruit_canopy_interaction_defoliation.xlsx" contains the climatic disequilibirum of facilitated, with neutral relation or inhibited recruits under canopy with different defoliation (alive, affected or dead)
. "plot": identificator of each plot
. "nurse": description of the canopy cover category experienced by recruits.
. "interaction": description of the kind of interaction estimated between each species recruits and canopy
. "code": identificator of each subcommunity, composed y plot identificator, canopy cover category and kind of recruit-canopy interaction
. "n": number of recruits of each species belonging to each subcommunity.
. "oc_x": axis 1 coordinate in the common climatic space for each plot and, therefore, experienced by the subcomunities (observed climate).
. "oc_y": axis 2 coordinate in the common climatic space for each plot and, therefore, experienced by the subcomunities (observed climate).
. "cic_x": axis 1 coordinate in the common climatic space for each subcommunity, calculated through species centroid axis 1 coordinate (community inferred climate)
. "cic_y": axis 2 coordinate in the common climatic space for each subcommunity, calculated through species centroid axis 2 coordinate (community inferred climate)
. "cd": climatic disequilibrium of each subcommunity calculated as the difference between observed climate and community inferred climate.
"climatic_disequilibrium_recruit_canopy_interaction_defoliation(-rare_sp).xlsx" contains the climatic disequilibirum of facilitated, with neutral relation or inhibited recruits under canopy with different defoliation (alive, affected or dead), considering only species with more than ten individuals in the study area
. "plot": identificator of each plot
. "nurse": description of the canopy cover category experienced by recruits.
. "interaction": description of the kind of interaction estimated between each species recruits and canopy
. "code": identificator of each subcommunity, composed y plot identificator, canopy cover category and kind of recruit-canopy interaction
. "n": number of recruits of each species belonging to each subcommunity.
. "oc_x": axis 1 coordinate in the common climatic space for each plot and, therefore, experienced by the subcomunities (observed climate).
. "oc_y": axis 2 coordinate in the common climatic space for each plot and, therefore, experienced by the subcomunities (observed climate).
. "cic_x": axis 1 coordinate in the common climatic space for each subcommunity, calculated through species centroid axis 1 coordinate (community inferred climate)
. "cic_y": axis 2 coordinate in the common climatic space for each subcommunity, calculated through species centroid axis 2 coordinate (community inferred climate)
. "cd": climatic disequilibrium of each subcommunity calculated as the difference between observed climate and community inferred climate.
"spring_microclimate.xlsx" microclimatic records measured every half-hour (30 minutes, 48 measures each day) using dataloggers for a period from March 11th to March 26th (2020). Dataloggers were placed in eight open habitat, under ten individuals of Salvia rosmarinus and under ten individuals of Halimmium halimmifolium.
. "Label": identificator of each individual or gap in which microclimatic record were measured
. "dd": date in which data were recorded
. "h": hour o the day in which datra were recorded
. "m": minutes at which data were recorded
. "C": temperature registered in Celsius degrees
. "H": relative humidity registeted
. "nurse": indicate if measures were recorded in gaps or under Salvia rosmarinus or Halimmium commutatum
. "Time": hour and minutes ar which data were recorded
"summer_microclimate.xlsx" microclimatic records measured every half-hour (30 minutes, 48 measures each day) using dataloggers for a period from August 5th to August 11th (2020). Dataloggers were placed in eight open habitat, under ten individuals of Salvia rosmarinus and under ten individuals of Halimmium halimmifolium.
. "Label": identificator of each individual or gap in which microclimatic record were measured
. "dd": date in which data were recorded
. "h": hour o the day in which datra were recorded
. "m": minutes at which data were recorded
. "C": temperature registered in Celsius degrees
. "H": relative humidity registeted
. "nurse": indicate if measures were recorded in gaps or under Salvia rosmarinus or Halimmium commutatum
. "Time": hour and minutes ar which data were recorded
KEY INFORMATION SOURCES/ CODE
Species niches and climatic disequilibrium
To obtain species niches and communities climatic disequilibrium use the Rscript "Species_niche_centroids_characterization.R" and "climatic_disequilibrium.R" of Perez- Navarro, M. Á. (2021). Extreme drought reduces climatic disequilibrium in dryland plant communities. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5509866
"Species_niche_centroids_characterization.R" contains the code for obtaining each species niche centroid in the multivariate climatic space, contained in table "species_climatic_niches.xlsx". To run this it is required to download and filter species occurrences from gbif (donwload DOIs are avalaiable on Suplementary material of Díaz-Borrego et al., (2024). Climatic disequilibrium of recruit communities across a droughtinduced die-off gradient in Mediterranean shrubland. https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.10465) and to extract the climatic condition of each site from worldclim 2.0 https://www.worldclim.org/data/worldclim21.html.
"climatic_disequilibrium.R" allows to estimate each community inferred climate (CIC) and climatic disequilibrium (CD) basing on multivariates species niche centroids obtained from "species_niche_centroids_characterization.R" and species relative abundances in each community, contained in table , contained in table "recruitment_data.xlsx"
Results
To evaluate the kind of recruit-canopy interaction between recruits species and canopy reported on the manuscript use the code "kind_of_recruit_canopy_interaction.R". The table "observed_expected_recruits.xlsx" is required.
To do the statycal analyses specified on the manuscript use Rscript "linear_mixed_effect_models.R". The tables "climatic_disequilibrium_nurse.xlsx", "climatic_disequilibrium_recruit_canopy_interaction.xlsx", "climatic_disequilibrium_recruit_canopy_interaction_defoliation.xlsx" and "climatic_disequilibrium_recruit_canopy_interaction_defoliation(-rare_sp).xlsx" are required.
Microclimate
To visualize microclimatic records reported on the manuscript run the code "spring_microclimate.R" and "summer_microclimate.R". The tables "spring_microclimate.xlsx" and "summer_microclimate.xlsx" are required.