Topoclimate effect on treeline elevation depends on the regional framework: A contrast between Southern Alps (New Zealand) and Apennines (Italy) forests

Rita, Angelo; Saracino, Antonio; Cieraad, Ellen; Saulino, Luigi; Zotti, Maurizio; Idbella, Mohamed; Stefano, Carlo de; Mogavero, Valentina; Allevato, Emilia; Bonanomi, Giuliano

doi:10.1002/ece3.9733

Cited by 8 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 116 publications

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“…In our study, the fourth most important variable affecting weed flora (Table 2 ) was topoclimate, a synthetic variable combining the highly collinear effects of altitude, mean annual temperature, and annual total precipitation in our sample. This combination cannot only be justified by the strong correlations between the variables but also for ecological reasons, as the plant species are not affected directly by altitude, only through related climatic variables (Slavich et al., 2014; Rita et al., 2023). A complex gradient of increasing altitude and precipitation and decreasing temperature was found to be a major driver for arable‐weed composition in central (Lososová et al., 2004) and southern (Pál et al., 2013) Europe, as well as Tajikistan (Nowak et al., 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of species composition in arable‐weed communities of the Austrian–Hungarian borderland region: What is the role of the country?

Pinke,

Vér,

Réder

et al. 2024

Applied Vegetation Science

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QuestionsDue to their high ecological and agronomical variability, borderland regions offer an excellent opportunity to study assembly patterns. In this study we compared the influence of various factors on summer annual weed communities consisting of both native and introduced species.LocationThe borderland region of Austria and Hungary.MethodsWe assessed the abundance of weed species in 300 fields of six summer annual crops, and collected information on 26 background variables for each plot. We applied redundancy analysis (RDA) to estimate multivariate species responses and variation partitioning to compare the relative importance of three groups of variables (environmental variables, management variables, and country as a singleton group), and we also checked for statistical association between country and the predictors of the other two groups.ResultsThe full RDA model explained 22.02% of the variance in weed species composition. Variation partitioning showed that environment and management had similarly high (~8%) influence on weeds, while country had a modest yet substantial (~1%) effect, and there was relatively little overlap between the variance attributable to the three groups. Comparing the individual variables, country ranked third (after preceding crop, and actual crop). The effects of 15 further variables were also significant, including seven management, and seven environmental variables, as well as the location of the sampling plots within the fields. Comparisons between the countries showed that farming type, preceding crops, tillage system, tillage depth and field size were significantly different between the countries.ConclusionsCountry exhibited a small but significant influence on weed community composition, which could not be explained with easily accessible management and environmental variables. This suggests that the distinct historical agronomical background of the two countries, possibly involving some legacies of the former Iron Curtain period, still has an impact on the weed species composition of arable fields.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of species composition in arable‐weed communities of the Austrian–Hungarian borderland region: What is the role of the country?

Pinke,

Vér,

Réder

et al. 2024

Applied Vegetation Science

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Tracing climate change with riverine ecotones and macroinvertebrates: is there need for extended monitoring at low elevations in western Himalaya?

et al. 2023

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Ecological features facilitating spread of alien plants along Mediterranean mountain roads

Santoianni,

Innangi,

Varricchione

et al. 2024

Biol Invasions

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Invasive alien species represent a major threat to global biodiversity and the sustenance of ecosystems. Globally, mountain ecosystems have shown a degree of resistance to invasive species due to their distinctive ecological features. However, in recent times, the construction of linear infrastructure, such as roads, might weaken this resistance, especially in the Mediterranean basin region. Roads, by acting as efficient corridors, facilitate the dispersal of alien species along elevation gradients in mountains. Here, we investigated how the ecological features and road-associated disturbance in native plant communities affected both the occurrence and cover of alien plant species in Central Apennines (Italy). We implemented the MIREN road survey in three mountain transects conducting vegetation sampling in plots located both adjacent to and distant from the roads at intervals of ~ 100 m in elevation. We then used community-weighted means of Ecological Indicator Values for Europe together with Disturbance Indicator Values applied to plant species of native communities as predictors of alien species occurrence and cover in a machine-learning classification and regression framework. Our analyses showed that alien species’ occurrence was greater in proximity to the road where high soil disturbance occurred and in warm- and light-adapted native communities. On the other hand, alien species cover was more strongly related to moderate grazing pressure and the occurrence of nitrophilic plant communities. These findings provide a baseline for the current status of alien plant species in this Mediterranean mountain region, offering an ecological perspective to address the challenges associated with their management under global change.

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Topoclimate effect on treeline elevation depends on the regional framework: A contrast between Southern Alps (New Zealand) and Apennines (Italy) forests

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 8 publications

References 116 publications

Drivers of species composition in arable‐weed communities of the Austrian–Hungarian borderland region: What is the role of the country?

Drivers of species composition in arable‐weed communities of the Austrian–Hungarian borderland region: What is the role of the country?

Tracing climate change with riverine ecotones and macroinvertebrates: is there need for extended monitoring at low elevations in western Himalaya?

Ecological features facilitating spread of alien plants along Mediterranean mountain roads

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