## 5 Results and Discussion
### Ecosystem Functional Types  
Figure 8 shows the final 12 EFTs Map for Spain, excluding water and artificial surfaces (black color). Almost half of the territory is occupied by two ecosystems, EFT.1 (22.5% of surface) and EFT.2 (21.5% of surface). As mentioned above, these two ecosystems present the closest behavior (see Figure A--Appendix for supplementary material). EFT.1, mainly located in south-west (Extremadura and Andalucia regions), is characterized by high albedo means (0.16) due to the effect of the background, high LST (around 28 \({}^{\circ}\)C) and a moderate biomass (0.5 NDVI). According to Figure 7, EFT.1 encompasses high intra-ecosystem variability. This EFT could be divided into six subgroups in a more detailed analysis (see Figure B--Appendix), where each subgroup shows a marked spatial distribution, for example, the group 13 is mainly located in the sparse area of Almeria, whereas subgroup 34 is mainly located in the non-irrigated croplands of Andalucia. EFT.2 is largely continuous and encompassing non-irrigated crops located in the center of Spain and is characterized by a high albedo (0.25) due to the strong influence of soil in these low dense canopy crops. Compared to EFT.1 this ecosystem shows a lower LST mean (around 25 \({}^{\circ}\)C) due to north south decreasing climatic gradient and a slightly lower NDVI mean NDVI (0.35). This ecosystem has a spring-peak of NDVI and a high intra-annual variability. Figure 8: Distribution of ecosystem functional types (EFTs) in Spain. Higher intra-annual variability is also assigned to EFT.3, mainly composed by irrigated crops and rice paddies with a summer-peak and mean albedo values of 0.17. Orange trees and several areas of olive trees located in the eastern part of the Peninsula, with a winter-peak also belong to this EFT. This ecosystem illustrates how different land cover can have a similar ecosystem function. In this case, Albedo is the main ecosystem functional trait that conforms this ecosystem and differentiates it from other ecosystems. Similar to EFT.1, in a deeper analysis these subgroups (e.g., irrigated land-subgroup 7 and 4-and citrus-subgroup 12) exhibiting different NDVI patterns, can be analyzed separately. EFT.7, EFT.8 and EFT.9 are located in the north, with a similar pattern in LST and Albedo means. The main source of variation in these ecosystems regards the NDVI pattern. Generally, these areas show low intra-annual variability and a DNDVI around June, however the surrogate of ANPP calculated as the NDVI mean indicates differences of productivity with values of 0.67, 0.72 and 0.63 respectively that are directly related with high amounts of annual precipitation. Conversely, EFT.10, EFT.11 and EFT.12 reveal low values of mean NDVI mean mainly located in mountainous areas such as the Pyrenees, and variable LST depending on the altitude. To analyze the differences among EFTs, we examined the functional variation for each type according to independent variables such as the Gross Primary Production (GPP) [88] and the rate of Evapotranspiration (ETP). Seasonal differences among EFTs are produced (Figure 9). The rate of evapotranspiration increases in summer; however, the maximum varies from spring (e.g., EFT.1) to summer (e.g., EFT.9). The amount of GPP and ETP is also variable, with a direct relationship between the magnitudes. Thus EFTs characterized by a low PET presenting higher GPP values (e.g., EFT.8), and are mainly located in the north of the Peninsula. Conversely, EFT.1 and EFT.2, mainly located in the southeast correspond to the high PET and low GPP. The contribution of each of the twelve functional attributes used in the identification of EFTs was analyzed through a multivariate separability measure such as Wilk's Lambda analysis [89]. This statistical is related to the likelihood ratio criterion and ranges between 0 and 1, where low values indicate a high contribution of the variable in the description of the ecosystem.