- Dominant plant species of drylands of SE Spain are known to
differ in their strategies for water control. For example, due to
their deeper roots and less dense canopies, shrubs of Anthyllis
cytisoides L. and Retama sphaerocarpa (L.) Boiss. showed lower
rainfall interception, lower direct canopy evaporation rates,
higher stemflow, and, hence, higher percolation of rainfall to
deeper soil layers than the tussock grass of S. tenacissima
(Domingo et al., 1998). Hence, shrubs would increase deep-soil
water storage and use, and improve hydraulic lift (e.g. Prieto
et al., 2010), while the shallow-rooted S. tenacissima, adapted
to use sporadic rainfall pulses (Haase et al., 1999), would
depend on soil moisture from top layers.We hypothesized that
EVI in grasslands would be lower than in scrublands as a result
of greater sensitivity to water stress and higher dependence
on annual rainfall.