Glacier shrinkage and slope processes create habitat at high elevation and microrefugia across treeline for alpine plants during warm stages

AbstractThe start of the growing season for alpine plants is primarily determined by the date of snowmelt. We analysed time series of snow depth at 23 manually operated and 15 automatic (IMIS) stations between 1055 and 2555 m asl in the Swiss Central Alps. Between 1958 and 2019, snowmelt dates occurred 2.8 ± 1.3 days earlier in the year per decade, with a strong shift towards earlier snowmelt dates during the late 1980s and early 1990s, but non-significant trends thereafter. Snowmelt dates at high-elevation automatic stations strongly correlated with snowmelt dates at lower-elevation manual stations. At all elevations, snowmelt dates strongly depended on spring air temperatures. More specifically, 44% of the variance in snowmelt dates was explained by the first day when a three-week running mean of daily air temperatures passed a 5 °C threshold. The mean winter snow depth accounted for 30% of the variance. We adopted the effects of air temperature and snowpack height to Swiss climate change scenarios to explore likely snowmelt trends throughout the twenty-first century. Under a high-emission scenario (RCP8.5), we simulated snowmelt dates to advance by 6 days per decade by the end of the century. By then, snowmelt dates could occur one month earlier than during the reference periods (1990–2019 and 2000–2019). Such early snowmelt may extend the alpine growing season by one third of its current duration while exposing alpine plants to shorter daylengths and adding a higher risk of freezing damage.

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Glacier melting and precipitation trends detected by surface area changes in Himalayan ponds

10.5194/tc-2016-39 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Franco Salerno ◽

Sudeep Thakuri ◽

Nicolas Guyennon ◽

Gaetano Viviano ◽

Gianni Tartari

Keyword(s):

Time Series ◽

Surface Area ◽

High Elevation ◽

Maximum Temperature ◽

Glacier Shrinkage ◽

Glacier Melt ◽

Glacier Melting ◽

Climatic Time Series ◽

Precipitation And Temperature ◽

Precipitation Trends

Abstract. Climatic time series for high-elevation Himalayan regions are decidedly scarce. Although glacier shrinkage is now sufficiently well described, the changes in precipitation and temperature at these elevations are less clear. This contribution shows that the surface area variations of unconnected glacial ponds, i.e., ponds not directly connected to glaciers, can be considered suitable proxies for detecting changes in the main hydrological components of the water balance on the south side of Mt. Everest. Glacier melt and precipitation trends have been inferred by analyzing the surface area variations of ponds with various degrees of glacial coverage within the basin. In general, unconnected ponds over the last fifty years (1963–2013 period) have decreased significantly by approximately 10 %. We inferred an increase in precipitation occurred until the mid-1990s followed by a decrease until recent years. Until the 1990s, glacier melt was constant. An increase occurred in the early 2000s, and in the recent years, contrasting the observed glacier reduction, a declining trend in maximum temperature has decreased the glacier melt.

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Glacier melting and precipitation trends detected by surface area changes in Himalayan ponds

The Cryosphere ◽

10.5194/tc-10-1433-2016 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 1433-1448 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Franco Salerno ◽

Sudeep Thakuri ◽

Nicolas Guyennon ◽

Gaetano Viviano ◽

Gianni Tartari

Keyword(s):

Surface Area ◽

Landsat Imagery ◽

High Elevation ◽

Maximum Temperature ◽

Study Region ◽

Glacier Shrinkage ◽

Glacier Melt ◽

Glacier Melting ◽

Glacier Ice ◽

Climatic Time Series

Abstract. Climatic time series for high-elevation Himalayan regions are decidedly scarce. Although glacier shrinkage is now sufficiently well described, the changes in precipitation and temperature at these elevations are less clear. This contribution shows that the surface area variations of unconnected glacial ponds, i.e. ponds not directly connected to glacier ice, but that may have a glacier located in their hydrological basin, can be considered as suitable proxies for detecting past changes in the main hydrological components of the water balance. On the south side of Mt Everest, glacier melt and precipitation have been found to be the main drivers of unconnected pond surface area changes (detected mainly with Landsat imagery). In general, unconnected ponds have decreased significantly by approximately 10 &pm; 5 % in terms of surface area over the last 50 years (1963–2013 period) in the study region. Here, an increase in precipitation occurred until the mid-1990s followed by a decrease until recent years. Until the 1990s, glacier melt was constant. An increase occurred in the early 2000s, while a declining trend in maximum temperature has caused a reduction in the glacier melt during recent years.

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Seedlings of alpine species do not have better frost-tolerance than their lowland counterparts

Alpine Botany ◽

10.1007/s00035-020-00237-4 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 130 (2) ◽

pp. 179-185 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Sergey Rosbakh ◽

Vera Margreiter ◽

Bernardica Jelcic

Keyword(s):

Seedling Survival ◽

Frost Tolerance ◽

High Elevation ◽

Alpine Plants ◽

Species Pairs ◽

Alpine Species ◽

Alpine Habitats ◽

Main Factors ◽

Effects Of Drought ◽

Set Up

Abstract In contrast to adult plants, little is known about the frost-tolerance of seedlings of alpine species, despite the fact that frost has been considered as one of the main factors limiting plant recruitment in high elevation. Here we report the results of a comparative study on seedling frost-tolerance of nine congeneric species pairs with lowland (0–900 m a.s.l.) and alpine (1800–2700 m a.s.l.) distribution. Similarly to adult alpine plants, we expected seedlings of alpine species to be more frost-tolerant than their lowland counterparts. Frost-tolerance was estimated under laboratory conditions by exposing seedlings to frost events from − 1 to − 9 °C, calculated as the temperature at which 50% of the seedlings were lethally damaged by frost (LT50). The LT50 values varied between − 1.95 and − 6.11 °C suggesting that seedling of all tested species could potentially survive mild and/or short frosts, but might be lethally damaged by severe and/or continuous frost events. The LT50 values for lowland and alpine species did not differ statistically and were on average − 3.96 ± 0.18 °C and − 4.16 ± 0.43 °C, respectively. These findings did not confirm our hypothesis that seedlings of alpine species have higher frost-tolerance than seedlings of lowland species. Four possible reasons could explain this pattern. They include (1) comparable levels of negative-stress in both lowland and alpine habitats, (2) opportunistic seed germination strategy in alpine plants, (3) peculiarities of our experimental set up and (4) potentially stronger effects of drought on alpine seedling survival than frost.

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Plasticity of flower longevity in alpine plants is increased in populations from high elevation compared to low elevation populations

Alpine Botany ◽

10.1007/s00035-016-0176-4 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 127 (1) ◽

pp. 41-51 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Judith Trunschke ◽

Jürg Stöcklin

Keyword(s):

High Elevation ◽

Alpine Plants ◽

Flower Longevity

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Current distribution of Nilgiri grass yellow Eurema nilgiriensis Yata (Lepidoptera: Pieridae), with an updated taxonomic key to Eurema of Western Ghats, India

ENTOMON ◽

10.33307/entomon.v44i1.423 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 44 (1) ◽

pp. 23-32 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

P. C. Sujitha ◽

G. Prasad ◽

R. Nitin ◽

Dipendra Nath Basu ◽

Krushnamegh Kunte ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Current Distribution ◽

Western Ghats ◽

Original Description ◽

High Elevation ◽

Type Locality ◽

Ecological Data ◽

Field Identification ◽

Wing Patterns ◽

Southern Western Ghats ◽

The Nilgiris

Eurema nilgiriensis Yata, 1990, the Nilgiri grass yellow, was described from Nilgiris in southern India. There are not many published records of this species since its original description, and it was presumed to be a high-elevation endemic species restricted to its type locality. Based on the external morphology (wing patterns) as well as the male genitalia, the first confirmed records of the species from Agasthyamalais and Kodagu in the southern Western Ghats, is provided here. This report is a significant range extension for the species outside the Nilgiris, its type locality. Ecological data pertaining to this species as well as the field identification key to all known Eurema of Western Ghats are also presented.

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Assemblage Patterns of Hymenoptera at Different Elevations of Gunung Datuk, Rembau

Scientific Research Journal ◽

10.24191/srj.v14i2.9358 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 1 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Noor Nasuha Abd Aziz ◽

Siti Khairiyah Mohd Hatta ◽

Idris Abd Ghani ◽

Saiyid Jalaluddin Saiyid Shaifuddin

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Diversity Index ◽

High Elevation ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Index Site ◽

Evenness Index ◽

Abundance And Diversity ◽

Richness Index ◽

Paired T Test ◽

Malaise Traps

A study on abundance and diversity of Hymenoptera was conducted in Gunung Datuk, Rembau. Samplings were conducted from November 2014 to February 2015 using six Malaise traps. Three traps were placed at Site 1 at 700m height for high elevation and the remaining traps were placed at Site 2 at 200m height for low elevation. A total number of 221 Hymenopteran were collected which consist of nine families namely Ichneumonidae, Formicidae, Braconidae, Bethylidae, Evaniidae, Tiphiidae, Vespidae, Pompilidae and Apidae. In this study, 93 individuals were obtained from Site 1, comprising nine families and 43 morphospecies while 127 individuals were obtained from Site 2 with nine families and 45 morphospecies. Formicidae was the most dominant family collected from both sites with a total of 104 individuals while the least family recorded was Apidae with only one individual. Shannon’s Weiner Diversity Index (H’) showed Site 1 had the higher diversity value with H’ = 3.17 compared to Site 2 with value H’ = 3.12. For Evenness Index, Site 1 had higher value compared to Site 2 with E’ = 0.84 and E’ = 0.82 respectively. Moreover, for Margalef Richness Index, Site 1 recorded R’ = 9.24 while site two recorded R’ = 9.08 which concluded that Site 1 had higher species richness compared to Site 2. Paired t-test showed that both sites had no significant difference with p>0.05. Overall study showed that the diversity and abundance of Hymenoptera in Gunung Datuk were low since the value of H’ is less than 3.50.

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