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Geodiversity refers to the variety of geological and physical elements as well as to geomorphological processes of the earth surface. Heterogeneity of the physical environment has an impact on plant diversity. In recent years, the relations between geodiversity and biodiversity has gained attention in conservation biology, especially in the context of climate change. In this study, we assessed the effect of hillslope geodiversity – as expressed by stoniness and depth of the soil profile – on plant’s community structure. The study was conducted in the Sayeret Shaked LTER station in the semi-arid north-western Negev of Israel. Vegetation survey was conducted for two consecutive years (2016 and 2017), of which the second year was a drier and hotter than the first year. The results show that (1) geodiversity increases vegetation biodiversity, and that (2) the effect of geodiversity on plants’ community structure and species richness is greater in the drier year than that in a wetter year. The main insight is that in drylands, hillslopes with higher geodiversity better buffer the effect of drier years, and supported a more diverse plant community than lower geodiversity hillslopes. |
