scholarly journals Range dynamics of mountain plants decrease with elevation

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (8) ◽  
pp. 1848-1853 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine B. Rumpf ◽  
Karl Hülber ◽  
Günther Klonner ◽  
Dietmar Moser ◽  
Martin Schütz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Elevational Gradient ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Range Limits ◽  
European Alps ◽  
Cold Adapted ◽  
Recent Climate ◽  
Range Dynamics ◽  
Mountain Plant

Many studies report that mountain plant species are shifting upward in elevation. However, the majority of these reports focus on shifts of upper limits. Here, we expand the focus and simultaneously analyze changes of both range limits, optima, and abundances of 183 mountain plant species. We therefore resurveyed 1,576 vegetation plots first recorded before 1970 in the European Alps. We found that both range limits and optima shifted upward in elevation, but the most pronounced trend was a mean increase in species abundance. Despite huge species-specific variation, range dynamics showed a consistent trend along the elevational gradient: Both range limits and optima shifted upslope faster the lower they were situated historically, and species’ abundance increased more for species from lower elevations. Traits affecting the species’ dispersal and persistence capacity were not related to their range dynamics. Using indicator values to stratify species by their thermal and nutrient demands revealed that elevational ranges of thermophilic species tended to expand, while those of cold-adapted species tended to contract. Abundance increases were strongest for nutriphilous species. These results suggest that recent climate warming interacted with airborne nitrogen deposition in driving the observed dynamics. So far, the majority of species appear as “winners” of recent changes, yet “losers” are overrepresented among high-elevation, cold-adapted species with low nutrient demands. In the decades to come, high-alpine species may hence face the double pressure of climatic changes and novel, superior competitors that move up faster than they themselves can escape to even higher elevations.

scholarly journals Variation in zoogeographical composition along an elevational gradient: the tenebrionid beetles of Latium (Central Italy)

Entomologia ◽  
2013 ◽  
pp. e6 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Fattorini
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Elevational Gradient ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Species Abundances ◽  
History Of ◽  
Evenness Indices ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

The aim of this paper is to propose the use of chorotype analysis of species assemblages on an elevational gradient to detect the main historical and ecological factors responsible for current faunal settings. A comprehensive faunistic database was used to assess species abundance across 100 m belts in Latium (Central Italy). Species were assigned to chorotypes according to their ranges. Entropy and evenness indices were applied to both species abundances and chorotype frequencies recorded in each belt. Both species and chorotype entropy decreased with elevation, whereas species and chorotype evenness increased. Chorotypes centred on the Mediterranean basin decreased with increasing elevation, chorotypes centred in Europe and Asia had similar frequencies among belts and endemic species increased with elevation. A cluster analysis with species presence/absence data, revealed three main clusters grouping respectively: i) all belts above 1700 m; ii) belts between 901 and 1500 m; and iii) belts between 0 and 900 m. An analysis based on chorotype frequencies produced very similar results. We can conclude that: high elevation assemblages are less diversified, but more balanced than lowland assemblages, in terms of both species and chorological composition. Belts similar in species composition (presence/absence) are also similar in zoogeographical composition (frequency of chorotypes). This indicates that elevation is a factor that strongly selects species’ attributes and especially their geographical distribution. Variations in chorotype composition along an elevational gradient may be used to trace the history of biotas.

scholarly journals Habitat Islands on the Aegean Islands (Greece): Elevational Gradient of Chasmophytic Diversity, Endemism, Phytogeographical Patterns and need for Monitoring and Conservation

Diversity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Kontopanou ◽  
Maria Panitsa
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Elevational Gradient ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Variable Intensity ◽  
Aegean Islands ◽  
Habitat Islands ◽  
Elevational Range ◽  
Natural Laboratory

The Aegean archipelago, characterized as a natural laboratory for research concerning plant species diversity and phytogeography has a complex geological and paleogeographical history that varies among its phytogeographical areas. A different combination of factors of variable intensity and duration time drives patterns of its impressive plant species richness and endemism. Cliffs, a conspicuous feature of the Aegean landscape, consist of biologically closed communities that serve as refugia for obligate chasmophytes, the majority of which are Greek or Aegean endemics, and for this reason, they are also considered as habitat islands on the Aegean islands. A synoptic analysis is presented concerning chasmophytic plant diversity focusing on endemic obligate chasmophytes. Phytogeographical patterns of obligate chasmophytes, and especially the endemic ones as well as their elevational range and distribution and zeta diversity, are analyzed and discussed in the frame of climatic change, mentioning that the most threatened endemic obligate chasmophytes are those specialized in high elevation areas, and focusing on the need for monitoring and conservation.

scholarly journals Growth Trends of Coniferous Species along Elevational Transects in the Central European Alps Indicate Decreasing Sensitivity to Climate Warming

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Oberhuber ◽  
Ursula Bendler ◽  
Vanessa Gamper ◽  
Jacob Geier ◽  
Anna Hölzl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Warming ◽  
Tree Growth ◽  
Growth Response ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
European Alps ◽  
Stone Pine ◽  
Central European ◽  
Recent Climate ◽  
Swiss Stone Pine

Tree growth at high elevation in the Central European Alps (CEA) is strongly limited by low temperature during the growing season. We developed a tree ring series of co-occurring conifers (Swiss stone pine, Norway spruce, European larch) along elevational transects stretching from the subalpine zone to the krummholz limit (1630–2290 m asl; n = 503 trees) and evaluated whether trends in basal area increment (BAI) are in line with two phases of climate warming, which occurred from 1915–1953 and from 1975–2015. Unexpectedly, results revealed that at subalpine sites (i) intensified climate warming in recent decades did not lead to a corresponding increase in BAI and (ii) increase in summer temperature since 1915 primarily favored growth of larch and spruce, although Swiss stone pine dominates at high elevations in the Eastern CEA, and therefore was expected to mainly benefit from climate warming. At treeline, BAI increases in all species were above the level expected based on determined age trend, whereas at the krummholz limit only deciduous larch showed a minor growth increase. We explain missing adequate growth response to recent climate warming by strengthened competition for resources (nutrients, light, water) in increasingly denser stands at subalpine sites, and by frost desiccation injuries of evergreen tree species at the krummholz limit. To conclude, accurate forecasts of tree growth response to climate warming at high elevation must consider changes in stand density as well as species-specific sensitivity to climate variables beyond the growing season.

scholarly journals Effect of Soil Diversity on Forest Plant Species Abundance: A Case Study from Central-European Highlands

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 534
Author(s):  
Pavel Samec ◽  
Jiří Volánek ◽  
Miloš Kučera ◽  
Pavel Cudlín
Keyword(s):  
Soil Properties ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Plant Distribution ◽  
Soil Diversity ◽  
Abiotic Environment ◽  
Soil Group ◽  
Biogeographical Regions ◽  
Forest Distribution

Plant distribution is most closely associated with the abiotic environment. The abiotic environment affects plant species’ abundancy unevenly. The asymmetry is further deviated by human interventions. Contrarily, soil properties preserve environmental influences from the anthropogenic perturbations. The study examined the supra-regional similarities of soil effects on plant species’ abundance in temperate forests to determine: (i) spatial relationships between soil property and forest-plant diversity among geographical regions; (ii) whether the spatial dependencies among compared forest-diversity components are influenced by natural forest representation. The spatial dependence was assessed using geographically weighted regression (GWR) of soil properties and plant species abundance from forest stands among 91 biogeographical regions in the Czech Republic (Central Europe). Regional soil properties and plant species abundance were acquired from 7550 national forest inventory plots positioned in a 4 × 4 km grid. The effect of natural forests was assessed using linear regression between the sums of squared GWR residues and protected forest distribution in the regions. Total diversity of forest plants is significantly dependent on soil-group representation. The soil-group effect is more significant than that of bedrock bodies, most of all in biogeographical regions with protected forest representation >50%. Effects of soil chemical properties were not affected by protected forest distribution. Spatial dependency analysis separated biogeographical regions of optimal forest plant diversity from those where inadequate forest-ecosystem diversity should be increased alongside soil diversity.

Assessing the diversity pattern of cryophilous plant species in high elevation habitats

Plant Ecology ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 212 (4) ◽  
pp. 595-600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Stanisci ◽  
Maria Laura Carranza ◽  
Giovanni Pelino ◽  
Alessandro Chiarucci
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Diversity Pattern

The effect of niche filtering on plant species abundance in temperate grassland communities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josep Padullés Cubino ◽  
Irena Axmanová ◽  
Zdeňka Lososová ◽  
Martin Večeřa ◽  
Ariel Bergamini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Temperate Grassland ◽  
Grassland Communities

scholarly journals Ambient changes exceed treatment effects on plant species abundance in global change experiments

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (12) ◽  
pp. 5668-5679 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Adam Langley ◽  
Samantha K. Chapman ◽  
Kimberly J. La Pierre ◽  
Meghan Avolio ◽  
William D. Bowman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Global Change ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Treatment Effects ◽  
Species Abundance

RAISING GROUNDWATER DIFFERENTIALLY AFFECTS MINERALIZATION AND PLANT SPECIES ABUNDANCE IN DUNE SLACKS

2006 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 1785-1795 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. van Bodegom ◽  
Annelies Oosthoek ◽  
Rob Broekman ◽  
Chris Bakker ◽  
Rien Aerts
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Dune Slacks

scholarly journals The commonness of rarity: Global and future distribution of rarity across land plants

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Joseph Enquist ◽  
Xiao Feng ◽  
Bradley Boyle ◽  
Brian Maitner ◽  
Erica A. Newman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Rare Species ◽  
Large Fraction ◽  
Neutral Theory ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Land Plant ◽  
Observation Data ◽  
Heavy Tailed Distributions ◽  
Species Abundance Distributions ◽  
Heavy Tailed

A key feature of life’s diversity is that some species are common but many more are rare. Nonetheless, at global scales, we do not know what fraction of biodiversity consists of rare species. Here, we present the largest compilation of global plant species observation data in order to quantify the fraction of Earth’s extant land plant biodiversity that is common versus rare. Tests of different hypotheses for the origin of species commonness and rarity indicates that sampling biases and prominent models such as niche theory and neutral theory cannot account for the observed prevalence of rare species. Instead, the distribution of commonness is best approximated by heavy-tailed distributions like the Pareto or Poisson-lognormal distributions. As a result, a large fraction, ~36.5% of an estimated ~435k total plant species, are exceedingly rare. We also show that rare species tend to cluster in a small number of ‘hotspots’ mainly characterized by being in tropical and subtropical mountains and areas that have experienced greater climate stability. Our results indicate that (i) non-neutral processes, likely associated with reduced risk of extinction, have maintained a large fraction of Earth’s plant species but that (ii) climate change and human impact appear to now and will disproportionately impact rare species. Together, these results point to a large fraction of Earth’s plant species are faced with increased chances of extinction. Our results indicate that global species abundance distributions have important implications for conservation planning in this era of rapid global change.

scholarly journals High turn-over rates at the upper range limit and elevational source-sink dynamics in a widespread songbird

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin U. Grüebler ◽  
Johann von Hirschheydt ◽  
Fränzi Korner-Nievergelt
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Elevational Gradient ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Range Limit ◽  
Apparent Survival ◽  
Breeding Sites ◽  
Mobile Species ◽  
Source Sink ◽  
Turn Over ◽  
High Elevations

AbstractThe formation of an upper distributional range limit for species breeding along mountain slopes is often based on environmental gradients resulting in changing demographic rates towards high elevations. However, we still lack an empirical understanding of how the interplay of demographic parameters forms the upper range limit in highly mobile species. Here, we study apparent survival and within-study area dispersal over a 700 m elevational gradient in barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) by using 15 years of capture-mark-recapture data. Annual apparent survival of adult breeding birds decreased while breeding dispersal probability of adult females, but not males increased towards the upper range limit. Individuals at high elevations dispersed to farms situated at elevations lower than would be expected by random dispersal. These results suggest higher turn-over rates of breeding individuals at high elevations, an elevational increase in immigration and thus, within-population source-sink dynamics between low and high elevations. The formation of the upper range limit therefore is based on preference for low-elevation breeding sites and immigration to high elevations. Thus, shifts of the upper range limit are not only affected by changes in the quality of high-elevation habitats but also by factors affecting the number of immigrants produced at low elevations.

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