Decreased bee emergence along an elevation gradient: Implications for climate change revealed by a transplant experiment

The advent of global climate change has major impacts upon viticultural production. Changes in the spatial limits of wine production are already being observed around the globe; vineyards are now viable at higher elevations and more polar latitudes. Climatic conditions are also threatening production in existing appellations. Therefore, sound management strategies are vital to maintain high-quality wines and varietal typicity, and to respond to changing market conditions. In mountainous regions such as the European Alps, new production areas at higher elevations are increasingly considered to be a promising solution. However, the suitability of viticulture in general, and even specific varieties of wine grapes, can change drastically across short distances in complex mountain terrain. Variations in temperature and radiation accumulation directly influence plant suitability, yield quantity, and quality. This paper shares initial findings from the REBECKA Project, a transnational research initiative designed to assess the impacts of climate change on mountain viticulture and wine quality in South Tyrol (Italy) and Carinthia (Austria). A three-part approach is utilized to better assess these dynamics: (1) historical crop yield data from local vineyards are assessed, (2) plant phenology stages and polyphenolic compounds of the Pinot Noir variety are analyzed along an elevation gradient and related to bioclimatic indices, and (3) a suitability map is developed that considers small-scale topographic and agro-environmental conditions. Taken together, these components contribute in clarifying many of the opportunities and threats facing high altitude viticulture in a changing world and provide new insights for sound decision-making in alpine vineyards.

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Climate change effects on multi-taxa pollinator diversity and distribution along the elevation gradient of Mount Olympus, Greece

Ecological Indicators ◽

10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.108335 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 132 ◽

pp. 108335

Author(s):

Konstantinos Minachilis ◽

Konstantinos Kougioumoutzis ◽

Theodora Petanidou

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Elevation Gradient ◽

Pollinator Diversity ◽

Climate Change Effects

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Treeline dynamics with climate change at the central Nepal Himalaya

Climate of the Past ◽

10.5194/cp-10-1277-2014 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 1277-1290 ◽

Cited By ~ 69

Author(s):

N. P. Gaire ◽

M. Koirala ◽

D. R. Bhuju ◽

H. P. Borgaonkar

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Minimum Temperature ◽

Plant Density ◽

Elevation Gradient ◽

Age Distribution ◽

Maximum Temperature ◽

High Mountain ◽

Nepal Himalaya ◽

Central Nepal ◽

The Impact

Abstract. Treeline shifting in tandem with climate change has widely been reported from various parts of the world. In Nepal, several impacts of climate change on the physical environment have been observed, but study on the biological impacts is lacking. This dendrochronological study was carried out at the treeline in the high mountain slope of Kalchuman Lake (3750–4003 m a.s.l.) area of Manaslu Conservation Area in the central Nepal Himalaya to explore the impact of climate change on the treeline dynamic. Two belt transect plots (size: 20 m wide, > 250 m long) were laid which included treeline as well as tree species limit. Ecological mapping of all individuals of dominant trees Abies spectabilis and Betula utilis was done and their tree cores were collected. Stand character and age distribution revealed an occurrence of more matured B. utilis (max. age 198 years) compared to A. spectabilis (max. age 160 years). A. spectabilis contained an overwhelmingly high population (89%) of younger plants (< 50 years) indicating its high recruitment rate. Population age structure along the elevation gradient revealed an upward shifting of A. spectabilis at the rate of 2.61 m year-1 since AD 1850. The upper distribution limit of B. utilis was found to be stagnant in the past few decades. An increment in plant density as well as upward shifting in the studied treeline ecotones was observed. The temporal growth of A. spectabilis was correlated negatively with the monthly mean and minimum temperature of June to September of the current and previous year. The regeneration of A. spectabilis, on the other hand, was positively correlated with August precipitation and monthly maximum temperature of the month of the current year. The growth and regeneration of A. spectabilis was more sensitive to maximum and minimum temperature rather than average temperature. The growth of the B. utilis was mainly limited by moisture stress during the pre-monsoon season. As these two species presented species-specific responses to climate change with differential pattern in regeneration condition, much wider differences are anticipated in their population status as climate continues to change throughout the century.

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How do species respond to climate change along an elevation gradient? A case study of the grey-headed robin (Heteromyias albispecularis)

Global Change Biology ◽

10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01737.x ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 255-267 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

JIN LI ◽

DAVID W. HILBERT ◽

TREVOR PARKER ◽

STEPHEN WILLIAMS

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Elevation Gradient

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Divergent Growth Responses to Warming between Stand-Grown and Open-Grown Trees in a Dryland Montane Forest in Northwestern China

Forests ◽

10.3390/f10121133 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (12) ◽

pp. 1133 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lei Zhang ◽

Hao Shi ◽

Pengtao Yu ◽

Yanhui Wang ◽

Shufen Pan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Tree Growth ◽

Elevation Gradient ◽

Montane Forest ◽

Growth Patterns ◽

Forest Growth ◽

Northwestern China ◽

Growth Responses ◽

Internal Factors ◽

High Elevations

Dryland montane forests conserve water for people living in the fluvial plains. The fate of these forests under climate warming is strongly affected by local environmental factors. The question remains of how internal factors contribute to climate change impacts on forest growth in these regions. Here, we investigated tree ring records for similar-aged stand-grown trees and their neighboring open-grown trees at elevation in a dryland montane forest (Picea crassifolia Kom.) in northwestern China. The growth rate of open-grown trees is much higher than their neighboring stand-grown trees across the entire elevation gradient, and the lower the altitude, the greater the difference. Open-grown trees at different elevations showed similar growth patterns, as tree growth at all sites was accelerated over time. In contrast, growth patterns of stand-grown trees were divergent at different altitudes, as growth at high elevations (3100–3300 m a.s.l.) was accelerated, whereas growth at low elevations (2700–2900 m a.s.l.) became stable after the year 1990. Analysis of growth–climate relationships indicated that warming promoted open-grown tree growth across the entire altitude gradient, and also stand-grown tree growth at high elevations, but negatively affected the growth of stand-grown trees at low elevations. Water scarcity can be exacerbated by competition within forests, inhibiting the warming-induced benefits on tree growth. Moving window correlation analysis suggested the negative effect of warming on tree growth at low elevations was diminished after the late 1990s, as the drought stress was alleviated. Our research shows the divergent growth responses to warming of stand-grown and open-grown trees along elevation. It reveals effects of internal factors in determining tree growth response to warming and holds the potential to aid forest management and ecosystem models in responding to climate change.

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Effects of litter quality and climate change along an elevation gradient on litter mass loss in an alpine meadow ecosystem on the Tibetan plateau

Plant Ecology ◽

10.1007/s11258-009-9714-0 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 209 (2) ◽

pp. 257-268 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Guangping Xu ◽

Yigang Hu ◽

Shiping Wang ◽

Zhenhua Zhang ◽

Xiaofeng Chang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Mass Loss ◽

Litter Quality ◽

Alpine Meadow ◽

Elevation Gradient ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Litter Mass ◽

Litter Mass Loss

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Using simulated temperature regimes to test growth and development of an invasive forest insect under climate change

10.1101/2021.12.06.471475 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jonathan A. Walter ◽

Lily M. Thompson ◽

Sean D. Powers ◽

Dylan Parry ◽

Salvatore J. Agosta ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Growth Rates ◽

Larval Growth ◽

Transplant Experiment ◽

Native Forest ◽

Source Population ◽

Climate Change Scenarios ◽

Temperature Regimes ◽

Thermal Regimes ◽

Environmental Chambers

AbstractTemperature and its impact on fitness are fundamental for understanding range shifts and population dynamics under climate change. Geographic climate heterogeneity, behavioural and physiological plasticity, and thermal adaptation to local climates makes predicting the responses of species to climate change complex. Using larvae from seven geographically distinct wild populations in the eastern United States of the non-native forest pest Lymantria dispar dispar (L.), we conducted a simulated reciprocal transplant experiment in environmental chambers using six custom temperature regimes representing contemporary conditions near the southern and northern extremes of the US invasion front and projections under two climate change scenarios for the year 2050. Larval growth rates increased with climate warming compared to current thermal regimes and responses differed by population. A significant population-by-treatment interaction indicated that growth rates increased more when a source population experienced the warming scenarios for their region, especially for southern populations. Our study demonstrates the utility of simulating thermal regimes under climate change in environmental chambers and emphasizes how the impacts from future increases in temperature can be heterogeneous due to geographic differences in climate-related performance among populations.

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Evolutionary Rescue as a Mechanism Allowing a Clonal Grass to Adapt to Novel Climates

Frontiers in Plant Science ◽

10.3389/fpls.2021.659479 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Zuzana Münzbergová ◽

Vigdis Vandvik ◽

Věroslava Hadincová

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Plant Traits ◽

Climate Extremes ◽

Biodiversity Loss ◽

Model Systems ◽

Necessary Condition ◽

Transplant Experiment ◽

Reciprocal Transplant Experiment ◽

Term Selection ◽

Evolutionary Rescue

Filing gaps in our understanding of species' abilities to adapt to novel climates is a key challenge for predicting future range shifts and biodiversity loss. Key knowledge gaps are related to the potential for evolutionary rescue in response to climate, especially in long-lived clonally reproducing species. We illustrate a novel approach to assess the potential for evolutionary rescue using a combination of reciprocal transplant experiment in the field to assess performance under a changing climate and independent growth chamber assays to assess growth- and physiology-related plant trait maxima and plasticities of the same clones. We use a clonal grass, Festuca rubra, as a model species. We propagated individual clones and used them in a transplant experiment across broad-scale temperature and precipitation gradients, simulating the projected direction of climate change in the region. Independent information on trait maxima and plasticities of the same clones was obtained by cultivating them in four growth chambers representing climate extremes. Plant survival was affected by interaction between plant traits and climate change, with both trait plasticities and maxima being important for adaptation to novel climates. Key traits include plasticity in extravaginal ramets, aboveground biomass, and osmotic potential. The direction of selection in response to a given climatic change detected in this study mostly contradicted the natural trait clines indicating that short-term selection pressure as identified here does not match long-term selection outcomes. Long-lived clonal species exposed to different climatic changes are subjected to consistent selection pressures on key traits, a necessary condition for adaptation to novel conditions. This points to evolutionary rescue as an important mechanism for dealing with climate change in these species. Our experimental approach may be applied also in other model systems broadening our understanding of evolutionary rescue. Such knowledge cannot be easily deduced from observing the existing field clines.

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