The relative importance of the amount and spatial distribution of vegetation as indicators of dryland function

Bare-soil connectivity and vegetation cover have proven to be good indicators of dryland function. The two properties are closely correlated and reflect the combined role of both the amount and spatial distribution of vegetation, making it difficult to disentangle the relative importance of each. Using partial correlation analyses between bare-soil connectivity, vegetation cover and soil function data from 109 dryland plots distributed worldwide, we have investigated the independent explanatory role of the two vegetation metrics along a variety of environmental gradients. Our results show that bare-soil connectivity and vegetation cover swap their relative importance as indicators of dryland function along most of the environmental gradients considered, with bare-soil connectivity increasing its independent explanatory role for both the milder and harder end of the gradients, and pattern-independent vegetation cover being a better predictor for medium-moderate  conditions.