Patterns in climate and seedling establishment at a dry tropical treeline

Ramírez, Lirey; Llambí, Luis Daniel; Azocar, Carmen J.; Fernández, M.; Torres, Jesús E.; Bader, Maaike Y.

doi:10.1007/s11258-022-01257-2

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 69 publications

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“…(2023) reported that the genetic health of a tropical montane tree species in Mexico is threatened by human activity and climate change. Research on treeline expansion has also shown that dry conditions in the boundary between TMF and páramo in the Venezuelan Andes support a seedling bank, but with slow growth (Ramírez et al ., 2022); and some species may need treatment, such as scarification, to increase germination rates (Liyanage et al ., 2022). Thus, understanding the genetic adaptations and environmental influence of seeds and seedlings is crucial for conservation efforts.…”

Section: Recent Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of anthropogenic climate change on tropical montane forests: an appraisal of the evidence

et al. 2023

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In spite of their small global area and restricted distributions, tropical montane forests (TMFs) are biodiversity hotspots and important ecosystem services providers, but are also highly vulnerable to climate change. To protect and preserve these ecosystems better, it is crucial to inform the design and implementation of conservation policies with the best available scientific evidence, and to identify knowledge gaps and future research needs. We conducted a systematic review and an appraisal of evidence quality to assess the impacts of climate change on TMFs. We identified several skews and shortcomings. Experimental study designs with controls and long-term (≥10 years) data sets provide the most reliable evidence, but were rare and gave an incomplete understanding of climate change impacts on TMFs. Most studies were based on predictive modelling approaches, short-term (<10 years) and cross-sectional study designs. Although these methods provide moderate to circumstantial evidence, they can advance our understanding on climate change effects. Current evidence suggests that increasing temperatures and rising cloud levels have caused distributional shifts (mainly upslope) of montane biota, leading to alterations in biodiversity and ecological functions. Neotropical TMFs were the best studied, thus the knowledge derived there can serve as a proxy for climate change responses in under-studied regions elsewhere. Most studies focused on vascular plants, birds, amphibians and insects, with other taxonomic groups poorly represented. Most ecological studies were conducted at species or community levels, with a marked paucity of genetic studies, limiting understanding of the adaptive capacity of TMF biota. We thus highlight the long-term need to widen the methodological, thematic and geographical scope of studies on TMFs under climate change to address these uncertainties. In the short term, however, in-depth research in well-studied regions and advances in computer modelling approaches offer the most reliable sources of information for expeditious conservation action for these threatened forests.

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Section: Recent Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of anthropogenic climate change on tropical montane forests: an appraisal of the evidence

et al. 2023

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Contrasting topography-vegetation relationships at natural and human-influenced mountain treelines in the Peruvian Andes

Urquiaga-Flores,

Bader,

Kessler

2024

Landsc Ecol

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Context The tropical Andes have a long history of human land use, which has affected vegetation patterns especially at high elevations. However, reference patterns to quantify these effects are missing due to lacking data from mountain ranges unaffected by humans. Objectives We compared landscape-scale patterns of forest distribution in the largest tropical Andean mountain range without high-elevation human occupancy, the Cordillera de Vilcabamba, and a nearby range with a long land-use history, the Cordillera de San Miguel, in Peru. Methods We quantified topographical positions (exposition, slope, wetness index) of 12.5 × 12.5-m2 pixels with and without forest cover in 100-m elevational bands and compared the study regions. Results In the undisturbed range (Vilcabamba), forest consistently occurred on steeper slopes than non-forest, differing little in other topographic metrics except a slight preference for the less sunny South- and West-facing slopes. In the disturbed range (San Miguel), forest showed little preference for any landscape position at elevations below 3500 m, but at higher elevations patterns were very clear: forest was more restricted to valley bottoms, as indicated consistently by higher topographic wetness and lower slope and topographic position indices, and to the less sunny South-facing slopes. Conclusions Land-use has a strong influence on landscape-level forest distribution in this part of the tropical Andes. Similar effects are likely in other tropical mountains, although no reference areas are available in most of them. The patterns described here can support the use of remote sensing to detect minimally disturbed tropical alpine-treeline ecotones, which should be focal points for conservation and research.

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Ecotones as Windows into Organismal-to-Biome Scale Responses across Neotropical Forests

Ortiz-Colin,

Hulshof

2024

Plants

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Tropical forests are incredibly diverse in structure and function. Despite, or perhaps because of, this diversity, tropical biologists often conduct research exclusively in one or perhaps a few forest types. Rarely do we study the ecotone—the interstitial region between forest types. Ecotones are hyper-diverse, dynamic systems that control the flow of energy and organisms between adjacent ecosystems, with their locations determined by species’ physiological limits. In this review, we describe how studying ecotones can provide key indicators for monitoring the state of Neotropical forests from organisms to ecosystems. We first describe how ecotones have been studied in the past and summarize our current understanding of tropical ecotones. Next, we provide three example lines of research focusing on the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of the ecotone between tropical dry forests and desert; between tropical dry and rainforests; and between Cerrado and Atlantic rainforests, with the latter being a particularly well-studied ecotone. Lastly, we outline methods and tools for studying ecotones that combine remote sensing, new statistical techniques, and field-based forest dynamics plot data, among others, for understanding these important systems.

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Patterns in climate and seedling establishment at a dry tropical treeline

Cited by 3 publications

References 69 publications

Impacts of anthropogenic climate change on tropical montane forests: an appraisal of the evidence

Impacts of anthropogenic climate change on tropical montane forests: an appraisal of the evidence

Contrasting topography-vegetation relationships at natural and human-influenced mountain treelines in the Peruvian Andes

Ecotones as Windows into Organismal-to-Biome Scale Responses across Neotropical Forests

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