Resource redistribution mediated by hydrological connectivity modulates vegetation response to aridification in drylands

Water scarcity poses a significant life constraint in global drylands that determines species adaptations and mosaic of exposed bare areas and vegetation patches. Runoff-water redistribution resulting from this spatial configuration has been suggested as a key process controlling water availability for vegetation and ecosystem functioning. However, the potential of this process to ameliorate the negative impacts of aridification in drylands remains unclear and there is no empirical evidence of its relevance on natural ecosystems under different levels of aridity and disturbance regimes. To address this gap, we analysed temporal series of the Normalized vegetation index (NDVI, a proxy of vegetation functioning) along a regional aridity-disturbance gradient under current and future climatic conditions. We found that mean NDVI increases in areas of runoff water accumulation (calculated using a water redistribution index) until a certain threshold, above which vegetation patches are not abl..., , , # Resource redistribution mediated by hydrological connectivity modulates vegetation response to aridification in drylands

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.kwh70rzfk](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.kwh70rzfk)

## Description of the data and file structure

We used R software for data analysis. Long term climatic data (average values for the period 1970-2000) were obtained from the Spanish Climate Atlas developed by the Spanish Meteorological Agency (AEMET, [http://agroclimap.aemet.es](http://agroclimap.aemet.es)). Daily climatic data for the studied period was obtainded from the climatic network of the Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (IVIA, [http://riegos.ivia.es/listado-de-estaciones](http://riegos.ivia.es/listado-de-estaciones)) and the Instituto Murciano de Investigación y Desarrollo Agrario y Medioambiental (IMIDA, [http://siam.imida.es](http://siam.imida.es)). Climate predictions for the 6th IPCC report were downloaded from [https://esgf-ui.ceda.ac.uk/cog/search/cmip...