Plant functional traits provide a robust framework for understanding ecosystem responses to environmental change, as they reflect plant strategies and ecosystem functioning. This study aims to develop Spatial Functional Networks to investigate how the structure of Mediterranean landscapes responds to climate variability and aridity in the Los Pedroches region (Córdoba, Spain).

The main research question is whether, and to what extent, the structure of functional networks changes along aridity gradients and across different land uses.

To address this, the approach integrates monthly climate interpolations of key environmental variables (mean temperature, precipitation, and relative humidity), high-temporal-resolution remotely sensed plant functional traits, ecosystem productivity, and landscape metrics to characterise spatial functional connectivity and ecosystem resilience. Networks are constructed from significant associations among key ecological variables, including Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fractional Vegetation Cover (FVC), Gross Primary Productivity (GPP), Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR), canopy water content (Cw), chlorophyll-related traits, and climatic indicators, enabling identification of functional interactions and their spatial organisation across different land-use types. To develop and validate this framework, datasets are integrated and tested on representative landscape units, providing a scalable methodology for assessing ecosystem functioning and resilience at the landscape scale.

Based on preliminary results, we hypothesise that increasing aridity alters trait associations and network topology, resulting in higher modularity and greater separation among ecological processes. By assessing network topology and connectivity metrics, the study aims to identify patterns of ecosystem resilience and vulnerability, with particular attention to functional reorganisation processes that may serve as early indicators of ecosystem degradation under increasing climate stress. This framework offers a new approach to assessing the impacts of aridity on Mediterranean landscapes and their ability to maintain ecosystem resilience under changing environmental conditions.