Plant invasions into mountains and alpine ecosystems: current status and future challenges

Alexander, Jake M.; Lembrechts, Jonas J.; Cavieres, Lohengrin A.; Daehler, Curtis C.; Haider, Sylvia; Kueffer, Christoph; Lei, Gang; McDougall, Keith L.; Milbau, Ann; Pauchard, Aníbal; Rew, Lisa J.; Seipel, Tim

doi:10.1007/s00035-016-0172-8

Cited by 206 publications

(156 citation statements)

References 99 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

150

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The fact that the thermophilization primarily occurred on the lower summits, could be related to the larger species cover changes as well as the more prominent invasion of lowland-species in the low-alpine zone (cf. Alexander et al 2016). This is also supported by the larger dissimilarity indices of vascular plants on the lower summits, indicating a higher species turnover.…”

Section: Vascular Plantsmentioning

confidence: 73%

Impact of climate change on alpine vegetation of mountain summits in Norway

Vanneste

Michelsen

Graae

et al. 2017

Ecological Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Climate change is affecting the composition and functioning of ecosystems across the globe. Mountain ecosystems are particularly sensitive to climate warming since their biota is generally limited by low temperatures. Cryptogams such as lichens and bryophytes are important for the biodiversity and functioning of these ecosystems, but have not often been incorporated in vegetation resurvey studies. Hence, we lack a good understanding of how vascular plants, lichens and bryophytes respond interactively to climate warming in alpine communities. Here we quantified long-term changes in species richness, cover, composition and thermophilization (i.e. the increasing dominance of warm-adapted species) of vascular plants, lichens and bryophytes on four summits at Dovrefjell, Norway. These summits are situated along an elevational gradient from the low alpine to high alpine zone and were surveyed for all species in 2001, 2008 and 2015. During the 15-year period, a decline in lichen richness and increase in bryophyte richness was detected, whereas no change in vascular plant richness was found. Dwarf-shrub abundance progressively increased at the expense of lichens, and thermophilization was most pronounced for vascular plants, but occurred only on the lowest summits and northern aspects. Lichens showed less thermophilization and, for the bryophytes, no significant thermophilization was found. Although recent climate change may have primarily caused the observed changes in vegetation, combined effects with non-climatic factors (e.g. grazing and trampling) are likely important as well. At a larger scale, alpine vegetation shifts could have a profound impact on biosphere functioning with feedbacks to the global climate.Keywords Alpine vegetation AE Climate change AE Resurvey study AE Thermophilization AE CryptogamsThe original version of this article was revised due to a retrospective Open Access.Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article

show abstract

Section: Vascular Plantsmentioning

confidence: 73%

Impact of climate change on alpine vegetation of mountain summits in Norway

Vanneste

Michelsen

Graae

et al. 2017

Ecological Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…While there is some debate about the outcomes of competition among native and non‐native species (e.g. Davis, ), a range of conditions (such as resource limitation) has been shown to enable competitive displacement of native species by non‐native invaders (Alexander et al., ; Pauchard & Alaback, ). Such changes could ultimately have significant impacts on native sky‐island floras globally.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, evidence is mounting of the upward spread of non‐native species (e.g. Alexander, Naylor, Poll, Edwards, & Dietz, ; Alexander et al., ; Arevalo et al., ; Averett et al., ; Chown et al., ; Loarie et al., ; Pauchard et al., ; Seipel et al., ; Zhang et al., ), likely a consequence both of climate change and of changing land use associated with growth in human activities (Alexander et al., ; Jakobs, Kueffer, & Daehler, ; Marini, Gaston, Prosser, & Hulme, ). Therefore, much interest exists in understanding how these changes in non‐native elevational ranges may impact native species and communities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A global analysis of elevational distribution of non‐native versus native plants

Guo

Fei

Shen

et al. 2018

Journal of Biogeography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aim Much is known about the elevational diversity patterns of native species and about the mechanisms that drive these patterns. A similar level of understanding is needed for non‐native species. Using published data, we examine elevational diversity patterns of non‐native plants and compare the resulting patterns with those observed for native plants. Location Global. Methods We compiled data from 65 case studies on elevational diversity patterns of non‐native plants around the world (including 32 cases in which both non‐native and native plants were sampled). We compared the elevational distributions (upper and lower limits, and extents) and diversity patterns of non‐native and native species. Results Compared to native plant species, the elevational diversity patterns of non‐native plant species were more negative (47% vs. 13%) and less unimodal (44% vs. 84%). That is, non‐native species richness tended to be highest at lower elevations, whereas native species richness peaked at mid‐elevations. In cases where species richness for both non‐native and native species on the same mountains showed unimodal patterns in relation to elevation, maximum values in species richness occurred at lower elevations for non‐native species. Main conclusions At present levels of invasion, non‐native and native species show different patterns in both distribution and diversity along elevational gradients worldwide. However, our observations constitute a snapshot of ongoing, long‐term invasion processes. As non‐native species typically show strong associations with human activities, future changes in human population (e.g. growth and migration), land use and climate change may promote upward spread of non‐native species and may thus increase risks of impact on native species and communities.

show abstract

“…Plant invasions in mountains have been increasing significantly in the last decades, and are expected to expand higher up in elevation towards alpine and nival ecosystems under predicted scenarios of global change (Pauchard et al , , McDougall et al , Pyšek et al , Angelo and Daehler ). These ecosystems – especially those in cold high‐latitude regions – are however currently still relatively free from non‐native plant species (Pauchard et al , Lembrechts et al , Zefferman et al ), although a recent global review reported a total of 183 distinct non‐native species from the alpine areas of 15 mountain regions (Alexander et al ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Microclimate variability in alpine ecosystems as stepping stones for non‐native plant establishment above their current elevational limit

et al. 2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Alpine environments are currently relatively free from non‐native plant species, although their presence and abundance have recently been on the rise. It is however still unclear whether the observed low invasion levels in these areas are due to an inherent resistance of the alpine zone to invasions or whether an exponential increase in invasion is just a matter of time. Using a seed‐addition experiment on north‐ and south‐facing slopes (cf. microclimatic gradient) on two mountains in subarctic Sweden, we tested the establishment of six non‐native species at an elevation above their current distribution limits and under experimentally enhanced anthropogenic pressures (disturbance, added nutrients and increased propagule pressure). We found a large microclimatic variability in cumulative growing degree days (GDD) (range = 500.77°C, SD = 120.70°C) due to both physiographic (e.g. aspect) and biophysical (e.g. vegetation cover) features, the latter being altered by the experimental disturbance. Non‐native species establishment and biomass production were positively correlated with GDD along the studied microclimatic gradient. However, even though establishment on the north‐facing slopes caught up with that on the south‐facing slopes throughout the growing season, biomass production was limited on the north‐facing slopes due to a shorter growing season. On top of this microclimatic effect, all experimentally imposed anthropogenic factors enhanced non‐native species success. The observed microclimatic effect indicates a potential for non‐native species to use warm microsites as stepping stones for their establishment towards the cold end of the gradient. Combined with anthropogenic pressures this result suggests an increasing risk for plant invasion in cold ecosystems, as such stepping stones in alpine ecosystems are likely to be more common in a future that will combine a warming climate with persistent anthropogenic pressures.

show abstract

Plant invasions into mountains and alpine ecosystems: current status and future challenges

Cited by 206 publications

References 99 publications

Impact of climate change on alpine vegetation of mountain summits in Norway

Impact of climate change on alpine vegetation of mountain summits in Norway

A global analysis of elevational distribution of non‐native versus native plants

Microclimate variability in alpine ecosystems as stepping stones for non‐native plant establishment above their current elevational limit

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About