Microclimate and demography interact to shape stable population dynamics across the range of an alpine plant

Oldfather, Meagan F.; Ackerly, David D.

doi:10.1111/nph.15565

Cited by 51 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 96 publications

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“…The topography of this mountain range resulted in cool, dry conditions at high elevations; warm, dry conditions at mid-elevations; and warm, wet conditions at low elevations across our study sites (Oldfather and Ackerly 2018). This decoupling of temperature and moisture gradients across the elevation gradient resulted in the highest CCN values occurring at midelevations, where the combined influence of temperature and soil moisture was strongest (Figure 3a).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…The alpine plant community was surveyed in nine sites that span the alpine zone in the White Mountains during the 2015, 2016, and 2017 summer growing seasons. These study years ranged from drought years (2015) to high snowpack years (2017) in the White Mountains and the annual environmental variability varied widely across sites (Oldfather and Ackerly 2018). Because lithology has a large effect on plant community composition in the White Mountains (Van de Ven, Weiss, and Ernst 2007), our study targeted a single rock type (granite) to focus on the spatial effects of temperature and soil moisture.…”

Section: Study Site and Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Increases in thermophilus plants in an arid alpine community in response to experimental warming

Oldfather

Ackerly

2019

Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research

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A warming climate has been shown to drive thermophilization-shifts in species abundance toward those adapted to warm and dry conditions. The community dynamics shaping this process have been proposed to vary between temperature-limited alpine plant communities and those that are both temperature and moisture limited. In nine sites across the xeric alpine zone in the White Mountains, California, USA, we experimentally increased summertime temperature and precipitation for three seasons and quantified community responses with a climatic niche analysis. We asked if thermophilization occurred in response to experimental heating, and if this effect was ameliorated by experimental watering. Under experimentally warmer conditions, we found no change in the mean community-weighted climatic niche (CCN); however, thermophilization of this community was observed based on a shift in the seventy-fifth percentile of the CCN and an increase in the proportional abundance of the hottest, driest adapted species. In addition, total vegetation abundance increased and species richness decreased with heating. Experimental watering did not ameliorate these effects of heating. Together, these results suggest that warming in arid alpine areas may result in less diverse plant communities dominated by hot, dry associated species, although short-term responses may be limited because of community lags. ARTICLE HISTORY

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Study Site and Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increases in thermophilus plants in an arid alpine community in response to experimental warming

Oldfather

Ackerly

2019

Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research

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“…Widening our knowledge about the effects of microclimate on populations’ performance will thus serve to refine predictions of future species abundance and distribution patterns (Bramer et al , Lembrechts et al ). For this reason, identifying explicit microclimate drivers that affect vital rates and population dynamics is drawing increasing attention (Nicolè et al , Weegman et al , Oldfather and Ackerly ). Yet, knowledge about differences in responses to microclimate among populations is scarce (but see, e.g., Oldfather and Ackerly ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intraspecific variation influences performance of moss transplants along microclimate gradients

Merinero

Dahlberg

Ehrlén

et al. 2020

Ecology

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Identifying the environmental drivers of population dynamics is crucial to predict changes in species abundances and distributions under climate change. Populations of the same species might differ in their responses as a result of intraspecific variation. Yet the importance of such differences remains largely unexplored. We examined the responses of latitudinally distant populations of the forest moss Hylocomiastrum umbratum along microclimate gradients in Sweden. We transplanted moss mats from southern and northern populations to 30 sites with contrasting microclimates (i.e., replicated field common gardens) within a forest landscape, and recorded growth and survival of individual shoots over 3 yr. To evaluate the importance of intraspecific variation in responses to environmental factors, we assessed effects of the interactions between population origin and microclimate drivers on growth and survival. Effects on overall performance of transplanted populations were estimated using the product of survival and growth. We found differences between southern and northern populations in the response to summer temperature and snowmelt date in one of three yearly transitions. In this year, southern populations performed better in warm, southern‐like conditions than in cold, northern‐like conditions; and the reverse pattern was true for northern populations. Survival of all populations decreased with evaporation, consistent with the high hydric demands and poikilohydric nature of mosses. Our results are consistent with population adaptation to local climate, and suggest that intraspecific variation among populations can have important effects on the response of species to microclimate drivers. These findings highlight the need to account for differential responses in predictions of species abundance and distribution under climate change.

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“…Methods that aim to predict species responses to climate usually incorporate spatial heterogeneity as a modifier of response functions to climatic variables, but typically do not include interaction functions, though this is rapidly changing in recent years (Dobrowski 2011, Clark et al 2014, Oldfather and Ackerly 2019. Environmentally induced variation in life-history traits such as survival rates, reproduction, or recruitment is typically modeled as random fluctuations of mean vital rates (Akcakaya et al 2004), though this is also rapidly changing (Bellier et al 2018, Yang et al 2019.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local temporal trajectories explain population‐level responses to climate change in saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea)

et al. 2019

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Population demography is typically assumed to be strongly influenced by climatic factors, particularly with succulent plants and cacti. The saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea) is a long-lived columnar cactus of the Sonoran Desert that experiences episodic recruitment and mortality. Previous studies have attributed long-term changes in saguaro populations to climatic factors, including increased germination and establishment during wet periods and mortality and reduced establishment during droughts and extreme freezes. We used a 48-yr data set of marked individuals at the Desert Laboratory in Tucson, Arizona, to test the hypothesis that local, temporal population trajectories are mediated by topographic heterogeneity that interacts with fluctuating climatic conditions. We tested the influence of local slope and aspect vs. climatic variability on a population of saguaro using >5800 marked individuals that have been measured since 1964. We examined the relationship between demography and climatic variables (drought, precipitation, and extreme temperatures) and found significant differences in growth and survival among aspects and among census periods. Saguaro population growth was higher during wet and cool periods (e.g., 1964-1970), and changes in age structures suggest that topographic differences interact with climatic fluctuations to produce unexpected demographic patterns including large recruitment events during periods of relatively unfavorable climate conditions. Our results highlight the importance of long-term data to detect demographic responses to climate that could not be predicted from short-term studies of plant physiology and population demography.

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Microclimate and demography interact to shape stable population dynamics across the range of an alpine plant

Cited by 51 publications

References 96 publications

Increases in thermophilus plants in an arid alpine community in response to experimental warming

Increases in thermophilus plants in an arid alpine community in response to experimental warming

Intraspecific variation influences performance of moss transplants along microclimate gradients

Local temporal trajectories explain population‐level responses to climate change in saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea)

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