Long-term vegetation dynamic in the Northwestern Caucasus: which communities are more affected by upward shifts of plant species?

Elumeeva, Tatiana G.; Онипченко, В. Г.; Егоров, А. В.; Khubiev, Anzor B.; Текеев, Д. К.; Soudzilovskaia, Nadejda A.; Cornelissen, Johannes H. C.

doi:10.1007/s00035-013-0122-7

Cited by 22 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…; Elumeeva et al. ). Such disturbance events may trigger random species loss and turnover, contributing to increasing β‐diversity while keeping α‐diversity constant.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Recent changes in alpine vegetation differ among plant communities

Gritsch

Dirnböck

Dullinger

2016

J Vegetation Science

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Aim Reports on recent changes in high‐mountain vegetation are mostly based on re‐surveys of mountaintop floras. Summits are very specific habitats, however, and detected trends may not necessarily represent alpine vegetation in general. Here, we analyse re‐samples of three prevalent plant communities in non‐summit alpine habitats (snowbeds, two grassland types). Location Northeastern European Alps. Methods In 2013 we re‐sampled a total of 91 relevés of three plant communities from the 1990s. We compared original and re‐samples in terms of species richness (α‐diversity), pair‐wise compositional dissimilarity (β‐diversity) and species pool size (γ‐diversity). Moreover, we calculated mean ecological indicator values (temperature, moisture, nutrient status and soil acidity) as well as potential plant height for each of the 182 relevés. Differences in species pool sizes between the two sampling campaigns were evaluated by randomization tests based on rarefaction curves. In all other cases, differences were compared using paired t‐tests or Kruskal–Wallis tests. Results Of all the community attributes analysed, changes were most consistent with respect to increasing mean species' temperature indicator values. Mean potential plant height also increased slightly in all three communities, but differences were statistically significant only in the case of Carex sempervirens grasslands. Changes in species richness varied among communities, with only the Carex firma grasslands accumulating significantly more species at both the local and regional scales. For the other two plant communities, α‐ and γ‐diversity remained constant, but β‐diversity increased. Indicator values other than temperature either did not change or changed idiosyncratically in the different communities. Conclusions Our results indicate that some long‐term changes occurred in high mountain grassland and snowbed vegetation of the study area. Consistent changes in mean species' temperature indicator values suggest that climate warming was an important driver. However, trends in biodiversity metrics differed substantially between the studied communities. We conclude that recent increase in species numbers commonly reported from temperate and boreal mountaintops cannot readily be generalized to all temperate and boreal high‐mountain vegetation.

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“…; Elumeeva et al. ). Such disturbance events may trigger random species loss and turnover, contributing to increasing β‐diversity while keeping α‐diversity constant.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…As a result, snowbed sites should show particularly strong increases in α‐diversity (Elumeeva et al. ; Grytnes et al. ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent changes in alpine vegetation differ among plant communities

Gritsch

Dirnböck

Dullinger

2016

J Vegetation Science

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“…; Elumeeva et al. ; Windmaißer and Reisch ), most of the species decreasing in frequency and/or cover have an alpine‐to‐arctic distribution, while those increasing have broader or lower elevation ranges.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research on comparable habitats (such as alpine heaths on windy ridges) shows diversified reactions to past climatic changes, from very limited changes (Elumeeva et al. ), to an increase in dwarf shrubs (Virtanen et al. ) or graminoid increase related to a dwarf shrub and forb decrease (Ross et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Snowbeds are more affected than other subalpine–alpine plant communities by climate change in the Swiss Alps

Matteodo

Ammann

Verrecchia

et al. 2016

Ecology and Evolution

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While the upward shift of plant species has been observed on many alpine and nival summits, the reaction of the subalpine and lower alpine plant communities to the current warming and lower snow precipitation has been little investigated so far. To this aim, 63 old, exhaustive plant inventories, distributed along a subalpine–alpine elevation gradient of the Swiss Alps and covering different plant community types (acidic and calcareous grasslands; windy ridges; snowbeds), were revisited after 25–50 years. Old and recent inventories were compared in terms of species diversity with Simpson diversity and Bray–Curtis dissimilarity indices, and in terms of community composition with principal component analysis. Changes in ecological conditions were inferred from the ecological indicator values. The alpha‐diversity increased in every plant community, likely because of the arrival of new species. As observed on mountain summits, the new species led to a homogenization of community compositions. The grasslands were quite stable in terms of species composition, whatever the bedrock type. Indeed, the newly arrived species were part of the typical species pool of the colonized community. In contrast, snowbed communities showed pronounced vegetation changes and a clear shift toward dryer conditions and shorter snow cover, evidenced by their colonization by species from surrounding grasslands. Longer growing seasons allow alpine grassland species, which are taller and hence more competitive, to colonize the snowbeds. This study showed that subalpine–alpine plant communities reacted differently to the ongoing climate changes. Lower snow/rain ratio and longer growing seasons seem to have a higher impact than warming, at least on plant communities dependent on long snow cover. Consequently, they are the most vulnerable to climate change and their persistence in the near future is seriously threatened. Subalpine and alpine grasslands are more stable, and, until now, they do not seem to be affected by a warmer climate.

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“…A number of recent studies have documented Europewide changes in alpine plant community composition, though there is clear spatial variation in the effects, both regionally and locally (Engler et al 2011;Gottfried et al 2012;Pauli et al 2012;Elumeeva et al 2013). Furthermore, this trend is projected to continue in the future, with stronger impacts in areas where increased temperature coincides with reduced precipitation (Engler et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alpine vegetation along multiple environmental gradients and possible consequences of climate change

Wehn

Lundemo

Holten³

2014

Alp Botany

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Alpine plant communities are being subject to climate change, resulting in the need for plants to adapt to new conditions. In this study, we investigated changes in vascular plant diversity along a coast-inland gradient in central Norway. At four different mountains, species were registered in 100 m 2 plots, laid out from the forest line to the summit. In addition, plots were grouped into snow cover duration (short, medium, and long) and aspect (North, South, East, and West). We documented richness and spatial turnover of species and functional groups (trees and tall shrubs, dwarf shrubs, herbs, graminoids, and seedless plants) along the different gradients using glm and RDA. Thereafter, we included variables from climate scenario models in the derived glm's to estimate how species richness and the distribution of these groups could be impacted by future climate change. Our results show that there are significant changes in species and functional groups along the regional gradient. Further, also local variation due to altitude and snow cover duration influenced species distribution and composition. Predictions of future vegetation showed an increase in species richness compared to present, with most changes occurring in areas of long and medium snow cover duration. We predicted the main changes to occur at lower altitudes. Here, dwarf shrubs and graminoids were expected to increase the most in number of species, whereas species of trees and tall shrubs were expected to increase the most in proportion.

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Long-term vegetation dynamic in the Northwestern Caucasus: which communities are more affected by upward shifts of plant species?

Cited by 22 publications

References 30 publications

Recent changes in alpine vegetation differ among plant communities

Recent changes in alpine vegetation differ among plant communities

Snowbeds are more affected than other subalpine–alpine plant communities by climate change in the Swiss Alps

Alpine vegetation along multiple environmental gradients and possible consequences of climate change

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