Abstract
Since ecological phenomena and patterns vary with scale, scalar analysis is a developing practice in ecology. Scalar analysis is most valuable in heterogeneous environments, since habitat heterogeneity is a key factor in determining biodiversity. One such case can be seen in the changes in annual vegetation in coastal sand dune systems. Most studies in these environments are carried out at the dune scale, comparing dunes at different stabilization states. However, a broader understanding of dune stabilization processes requires analyses at the finer scales of dune slope aspects (directions of exposure to wind) and patches (under and between woody perennial species). Here, we present the results of a study that combines the three scales (dune, slope, and patch) in the Mediterranean coastal dune systems in Israel. Through this multi-scalar analysis, we are able to describe processes at the finer patch and aspect scale and explain how they shape patterns at the dune scale. The results indicate that the dune scale exposes the differences in annual plant characteristics between mobile and fixed dunes, their slopes and patches and the reorganization and spatial distribution of annual plants within mobile and fixed dunes during the stabilization process.
Highlights
As a science that discusses spatial and temporal variations and dynamics, ecology is sensitive to differences in spatial and temporal scales [1]
We focused on annual plants as they are more susceptible to a wide spatial range of changes in soil and micro-climate properties compared to the woody perennial plants [50]
Starting with the dune scale, which is the most commonly studied, we identified the general trend of increasing annual vegetation cover and species number and the change in plant assemblages during dune stabilization
Summary
As a science that discusses spatial and temporal variations and dynamics, ecology is sensitive to differences in spatial and temporal scales [1]. Since some phenomena and mechanisms are observable only at certain scales, while others may exhibit contrasting patterns at various scales, scale is a fundamental theoretical and methodological issue (e.g., [2,3,4,5,6]). The issue of scale becomes more important when biodiversity and landscape ecology are discussed. Biodiversity is partly maintained by habitat heterogeneity [8], which is manifested in differences between habitats at different scales, from larger scales such as climatic gradients to smaller scales such as the immediate environment of a single organism
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