Climate-related Range Shifts of Climate-sensitive Biological Indicator Species in the Korean Peninsula: A role of dispersal capacity

Trends in the effects of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems in the Republic of Korea

“…Climate change-related range shifts in plants were mostly predicted at the regional scale, i.e., the Korean peninsula, but rarely at local scales, e.g., mountain areas. Such predictions have been made for climate change-sensitive species (Shin et al 2018;Koo et al 2015;Koo et al 2016;Park et al 2016b;Koo et al 2017b;Koo et al 2017c;Koo et al 2018;Park et al 2019).…”

“…Plants The geographical range of plants and their climate-related range shifts have been investigated for plant species at local and regional scales. Studies have provided range shift predictions under climate change based on the climatically suitable habitat conditions for individual plant species (Shin et al 2018;Koo et al 2015;Koo et al 2016;Park et al 2016b;Koo et al 2017a;Koo et al 2017b;Koo et al 2017c;Koo et al 2018;Park et al 2019) as well as changes in the species composition and diversity of plant communities according to elevational gradient (Kim et al 2018a;An et al 2019).…”

“…These vulnerable species were selected based on various factors including species composition, flora, rarity, endemicity, and distribution pattern. Although the future ranges of cold-adapted plants, i.e., those distributed in high mountainous areas such as alpine and subalpine belts, were mostly predicted to shrink and shift to northern and high-elevation areas (Koo et al 2015;Koo et al 2017a), the ranges of warm-adapted plants, i.e., those that inhabit low land areas, were mostly predicted to expand and shift to northern areas (Park et al 2016a(Park et al , 2016bKoo et al 2017b;Park et al 2019). However, the level of change in future ranges was species-specific, suggesting the need for species-specific predictions and management practices (Koo et al 2016).…”

“…However, species such as Kadsura japonica, Neolitsea sericea, Ilex integra, and Dendropanax morbifera with narrow current ranges, i.e., those distributed only in specific areas such as the coast, were predicted to lose their habitats (Koo et al 2017c;Koo et al 2018). In addition, when adaptation capacity, such as dispersal capacity, was considered, the degree of expansion decreased (Park et al 2017;Park et al 2019).…”

“…Importantly, if the biodiversity of an ecosystem, i.e., the presence of a wide variety of organisms, were lost, this loss would be permanent. However, unlike situations in other socioeconomic fields, climate change-related effects on ecosystems may be beyond the public interest since the difficulties they cause may not directly damage or inconvenience humans (Park et al 2019). However, it is commonly accepted knowledge that ecosystems are currently experiencing burdensome and disturbing situations.…”