DOI: 10.5061/dryad.qc90d
title: Data from: Climate variability and community stability in Mediterranean shrublands: the role of functional diversity and soil environment

description: 1.Understanding how different factors mediate the resistance of
 communities to climatic variability is a question of considerable
 ecological interest that remains mostly unresolved. This is particularly
 remarkable to improve predictions about the impact of climate change on
 vegetation. 2.Here we used a trait-based approach to analyse the
 sensitivity to climatic variability over nine years of 19 Mediterranean
 shrubland communities located in southwest Spain. We evaluated the role of
 functional diversity and soil environment as drivers of community
 stability (assessed as changes in plant cover, species diversity and
 composition). 3.The studied shrubland communities were strongly sensitive
 to inter-annual variability in climate. First, colder and drier conditions
 caused remarkable decreases in total plant cover but increased functional
 diversity, likely because the reduction of plant cover after harsh
 climatic conditions promoted the expansion of functionally dissimilar
 species in the new open microsites; although communities returned to their
 initial values of plant cover after nine years, changes in functional
 diversity and structure persisted over time. Second, drier and colder
 conditions favoured the predominance of shrubs with a conservative
 resource-use strategy (i.e. with higher dry matter content in leaves,
 stems and roots), bigger seeds and a more efficient use of water. 4.The
 most functionally diverse communities were the most stable over time in
 terms of species diversity, likely because a higher number of functionally
 dissimilar species allowed compensatory dynamics among them. 5.Communities
 inhabiting more acidic and resource-limited environments were less
 variable over time, probably because they were mainly constituted by
 slow-growth, stress-tolerant species that are potentially better adapted
 to harsh climatic conditions. 6.Synthesis: This study highlights the
 utility of a trait-based approach to evaluate how plant communities
 respond to climatic variability. We could infer that the increased
 frequency of extreme climatic events predicted by climatic models will
 alter the functional structure of shrubland communities, with potential
 repercussions for ecosystem functioning. Our results also provide new
 insights into the role of functional diversity and soil environment as
 buffers of the climate impact on woody communities, as well as potentially
 useful information to be applied in ecologically-based management and
 restoration strategies.
description: Temporal changes in
 plant cover, functional composition and diversity.This file contains all
 the data used in the different statistical analyses of this study in order
 to answer the following questions: : (i) how sensitive are Mediterranean
 shrubland communities to inter-annual variability in climate?; (ii) are
 communities with higher functional diversity more stable against climatic
 fluctuations?; and (iii) are shrubland communities growing on poorer soils
 more stable over time than those located on resource-richer
 soils?Dataset_Pérez-Ramos et al.
 2017.xlsx