Adil GÜNER, Vehbi ESER - optima

Oral Lectures
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ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING THE DRY IBERIAN SOUTHEAST:
BASELINE CONDITIONS AND TEMPORAL TRENDS DURING A
POSITIVE NAO PERIOD
J. CABELLO (1, 2) , E. LIRAS (1, 2) , D. ALCARAZ (1, 2) , A.CASTRO (1, 2) (1, 3)
& C. OYONARTE
1) Centro Andaluz para la Evaluación y Seguimiento del Cambio Global (CAESCG); jcabello@ual.es
2) Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología. 2) Departamento de Edafología y Química Agrícola.
Universidad de Almería
3 La Cañada de San Urbano, 04120 Almería, Spain
In relation to predicted intensification of aridity conditions competitive capacity of vegetation
adapted to drought is expected to increase in the Iberian Southeast. Due to the interactions among
orography, litology, vegetation structure, rain patterns and atmospheric circulation models
(ACMs), the response of ecosystems would be complex. To understand how Habitats of
Community Interest (HCIs) located in this area are responding to these conditions, satellitederived
ecosystem functioning attributes and its trends for the period 2000-2008 were
characterized. Based on MODIS images, subrogates of productivity (EVI-I), seasonality (EVI
CV) and phenology (EVI MAX and MIN) were retrieved considering sites corresponding to the
HCIs 1420, 1510, 1520, 5330, 5220 y 6220. Each site was also characterized for the dominant
vegetation structure and litology. Afterwards, Man-Kendall test was used to compute temporal
trends in annual and monthly EVI values. Results allowed the establishment of the reference
annual curve of ecosystem functioning and EVI trends for each HCI within the studied period.
Biotic and abiotic controls imposed by vegetation structure, litology, climate and ACMs, were
also analysed in relation to the spatio-temporal responses of each HCI. The study shows the
potential of remote sensing tools to monitor HCIs, a need for the European environmental
policies.
Keywords: Aridity, ecosystem response, EVI, habitats of comunnitiy interest, monitoring,
remote sensing, precipitation use efficiency, temporal trends, vegetation structure.
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