79742 20260112133138.0 doi 10.1111/1365-2745.12935 sideral 107100 ART-2018-107100 eng Saiz, Hugo The structure of plant spatial association networks is linked to plant diversity in global drylands 2018 Access copy available to the general public Unrestricted Despite commonly used to unveil the complex structure of interactions within ecological communities and their value to assess their resilience against external disturbances, network analyses have seldom been applied in plant communities. We evaluated how plant–plant spatial association networks vary in global drylands and assessed whether network structure was related to plant diversity in these ecosystems. We surveyed 185 dryland ecosystems from all continents except Antarctica and built networks using the local spatial association between all the perennial plants species present in the communities studied. Then, for each network, we calculated four descriptors of network structure (link density, link weight mean and heterogeneity, and structural balance) and evaluated their significance with null models. Finally, we used structural equation models to evaluate how abiotic factors (including geography, topography, climate and soil conditions) and network descriptors influenced plant species richness and evenness. Plant networks were highly variable world-wide, but at most study sites (72%) presented common structures such as a higher link density than expected. We also find evidence of the presence of high structural balance in the networks studied. Moreover, all network descriptors considered had a positive and significant effect on plant diversity and on species richness in particular. Synthesis. Our results constitute the first empirical evidence showing the existence of common network architectures structuring dryland plant communities at the global scale and suggest a relationship between the structure of spatial networks and plant diversity. They also highlight the importance of system-level approaches to explain the diversity and structure of interactions in plant communities, two major drivers of terrestrial ecosystem functioning. info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA-FEDER/E19 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/242658/EU/Biotic community attributes and ecosystem functioning: implications for predicting and mitigating global change impacts/BIOCOM info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/647038/EU/Biological feedbacks and ecosystem resilience under global change: a new perspective on dryland desertification/BIODESERT This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No H2020 647038-BIODESERT info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/FIS2014-55867-P info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/FIS2015-71582-C2-1 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess All rights reserved http://www.europeana.eu/rights/rr-f/ 5.687 2018 PLANT SCIENCES 12 / 226 = 0.053 2018 Q1 T1 ECOLOGY 16 / 164 = 0.098 2018 Q1 T1 2.764 2018 Ecology 2018 Q1 Plant Science 2018 Q1 Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics 2018 Q1 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion Gómez-Gardeñes, Jesús Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0001-5204-1937 Borda, Juan Pablo Maestre, Fernando T. 2003 395 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Física Materia Condensa. Área Física Materia Condensada 106, 4 (2018), 1443-1453 J. ecol. JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY 0022-0477 1223832 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/79742/files/texto_completo.pdf Postprint 32012 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/79742/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon icon Postprint oai:zaguan.unizar.es:79742 articulos driver 2026-01-12-12:35:12 ARTICLE