Abstract
This study investigates the effects of slope aspect on plant community characteristics such as plant cover, species composition and above-ground biomass production in Mediterranean trees and shrubs in two climatological regions. Two experimental sites were selected in a climatic gradient that runs from the foothills of the Judean Hills to the northern Negev desert in Israel. In each site, 16 quadrats of 10 m × 10 m (eight south-facing and eight north-facing slopes) were established and the vegetation was recorded. Dominant tree and shrub species were measured using allometric parameters of area and volume, and representative branches were cut and weighed. Species studied were Quercus calliprinos, Phillyrea latifolia, Pistacia lentiscus, Cistus creticus, Coridothymus capitatus, and Sarcopoterium spinosum. The results showed that slope aspect had significant effects on the composition, structure and density of the plant communities developing in both sites. Vegetation structure within a site changed significantly in the short distance separating the north and south-facing slopes, and that pattern remained generally constant when comparing the two sites along the rainfall gradient. The data collected here provides new insight into the slope aspect effects on biomass allocation of different woody life forms of eastern Mediterranean plant communities.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Burke I. C., Yonker C. M., Parton W. J., Cole C. V., Flach K., Schimel D. S. (1989) Texture, climate, and cultivation effects on soil organic content in U.S. grassland soils. Journal of Soil Science Society of America 53: 800–805.
Dan J., Yaalon D., Koyumdjisky H., Raz Z. (1970) The soil association map of Israel (1 : 1 000 000). Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 21: 29–49.
Danin A. & Orshan G. (1999) Vegetation of Israel I. Desert and Coastal Vegetation. Backhuys Press, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Feinbrun-Dothan N. & Danin A. (1991) Analytical Flora of Eretz-Israel. Cana Publishing, Jerusalem.
Goldberg D. & Novoplansky A. (1997) On the relative importance of competition in unproductive environments. Journal of Ecology 85: 409–418.
Henkin Z., Seligman N. G., Kafkafi U., Noy-Meir I. (1998a) ‘Effective growing days’: a simple model of the response of herbaceous plant growth in a Mediterranean ecosystem to variation in rainfall and phosphorus availability. Journal of Ecology 86: 137–148.
Henkin Z., Seligman N. G., Kafkafi U., Prinz D. (1998b) End-of-season soil water depletion in relation to growth of herbaceous vegetation in a sub-humid Mediterranean dwarf-shrub community on two contrasting soils. Plant and Soil 202: 317–326.
Hiernaux P. & Gerard B. (1999) The influence of vegetation pattern on the productivity, diversity and stability of vegetation: The case of ‘brousse tigree’ in the Sahel. Acta Oecologica 20: 147–158.
Kadmon R. & Danin A. (1999) Distribution of plant species in Israel in relation to spatial variation in rainfall. Journal of Vegetation Science 10: 421–432.
Kadmon R. & Harari-Kremer R. (1999) Landscape-scale regeneration dynamics of disturbed Mediterranean maquis. Journal of Vegetation Science 10: 393–402.
Klemmedson J. O. & Wienhold B. J. (1992) Aspect and species influences on nitrogen and phosphorus in Arizona chaparral soil-plant system. Arid Soil Research and Rehabilitation 6: 105–116.
Kruger F. J., Mitchell D. T., Jarvis J. U. M. (1986) Mediterranean-type Ecosystems. The Role of Nutrients. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Kutiel P. (1992) Slope aspect effect on soil and vegetation in a Mediterranean ecosystem. Israel Journal of Botany 41: 243–250.
Kutiel P. & Lavee H. (1999) Effect of slope aspect on soil and vegetation properties along an aridity transect. Israel Journal of Plant Sciences 47: 169–178.
Müeller-Dombois D. & Ellenberg H. (1974) Aims and Methods of Vegetation Ecology. Wiley, New York.
Naveh Z. (1990) Fire in the Mediterranean – A landscape ecological perspective. In: Fire in Ecosystem Dynamics (eds J. G. Goldammer & M. J. Jenkins) pp. 1–20. Academic Publishing, Amsterdam.
Nevo E. (1995) Asian, African and European biota meet at ‘Evolution Canyon’, Israel: Local tests of global biodiversity and genetic diversity patterns. Proceedings of the Royal Society London 262: 149–155.
Noy-Meir I. & Sternberg M. (1999) Grazing and fire response and plant functional types in Mediterranean grasslands. In: Proceedings of the VI International Rangelands Congress (eds D. Eldridge & D. Freudenberger) pp. 916–921. VI International Rangleand Congress, Inc., Townsville, Australia.
Olivero A. M. & Hix D. M. (1998) Influence of slope aspect and stand age on ground flora of southeastern Ohio forest ecosystems. Plant Ecology 139: 177–187.
Osem Y., Sternberg M., Perevolotsky A., Kigel J. (1999) Species composition and abundance of annual plants in the seed bank and in the vegetation in a semiarid region in the northern Negev as affected by sheep grazing. Ecology and Environment 5: 180–189 (in Hebrew with English abstract).
Patten R. S. & Ellis J. E. (1995) Patterns of species and community distributions related to environmental gradients in an arid tropical ecosystem. Vegetatio 117: 69–79.
Quezel P. (1981) Floristic composition and phytosociological structure of Sclerophyllous matorral around the Mediterranean. In: Mediterranean-Type Shrublands. Ecosystems of the World No. 11 (eds F. Di Castri, D. W. Goodall & R. L. Specht) pp. 107–121. Elsevier, Amsterdam.
Running S., Loveland T. R., Pierce L. L., Nemani R. R., Hunt E. R. (1995) A remote sensing based vegetation classification logic for global land cover analysis. Remote Sensing of Environment 51: 39–48.
Sala O. E., Parton W. J., Joyce L. A., Lauenroth W. K. (1988) Primary production of the central grassland region of the United States. Ecology 69: 40–45.
Schimel D. S., Kittel T. G. F., Knapp A. K., Seastedt T. R., Parton W. J., Brown V. B. (1991) Physiological interactions along resource gradients in a tallgrass prairie. Ecology 72: 672–684.
Sellers P. J., Los S. O., Ticker C. J., Justice C. O., Dazlich D. A., Collatz G. J., Randall D. A. (1996) A revised land surface parameterization (SiB2) for atmospheric GCMs – part II: the generation of global fields of terrestrial biophysical parameters from satellite data. Journal of Climate 9: 706–737.
Sokal R. & Rohlf F. (1995) Biometry. The Principles and Practice of Statistics in Biological Research, 3rd edn. Freeman, New York.
Sternberg M., Gutman M., Perevolotsky A., Ungar E. D., Kigel J. (2000) Vegetation response to grazing management in a Mediterranean herbaceous community: a functional group approach. Journal of Applied Ecology 37: 224–237.
Sternberg M. & Shoshany M. (2001) Aboveground biomass allocation and water content relationships in Mediterranean trees and shrubs at two climatological regions in Israel. Plant Ecology (in press).
Tukey J. (1953) A Problem of Multiple Comparisons. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Whittaker R. H. (1975) Communities and Ecosystems. Macmillan, London.
Whittaker R. H. & Niering W. A. (1975) Vegetation of Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona. V: Biomass, production, and diversity along the elevation gradient. Ecology 56: 771–790.
Wilson S. D. & Tilman D. (1993) Plant competition and resource availability in response to disturbance and fertilization. Ecology 74: 599–611.
Zohary M. (1973) Geobotanical Foundations of the Middle East. Gustav Fischer-Verlag, Stuttgart.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
About this article
Cite this article
Sternberg, M., Shoshany, M. Influence of slope aspect on Mediterranean woody formations: Comparison of a semiarid and an arid site in Israel. Ecol Res 16, 335–345 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-1703.2001.00393.x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-1703.2001.00393.x