Vegetation trends over eleven years on mountain summits in NW Argentina

Carilla, Julieta; Halloy, Stephan; Cuello, Soledad; Grau, Alfredo; Malizia, Agustina; Cuesta, Francisco

doi:10.1002/ece3.4602

Cited by 43 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 57 publications

(87 reference statements)

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“…Most of the AR2 species show a clear prevalence of colonisations over disappearances (Table 1, Tables S1, S4, S5), suggesting a leading-edge expansion of this species group, similar to previous observations of elevational and latitudinal range shifts (Carilla et al 2018;Parmesan and Yohe 2003;Rumpf et al 2018). Among the common AR2 species, Silene exscapa exhibited a moderate but steady increase and hardly any losses, whereas others like Festuca intercedens showed contrasting changes with both numbers of colonisations and disappearances significantly increasing from the first to the second decade (Tables S1, S4, S5).…”

Section: Trailing-edge Contraction Of Crypophilic Species and Leading-edge Expansion Of Lower-elevation Speciessupporting

confidence: 87%

Dieback and expansions: species-specific responses during 20 years of amplified warming in the high Alps

et al. 2019

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The largest alpine–nival vegetation permanent plot site in the Alps, the GLORIA mastersite Schrankogel (Tirol, Austria), provided evidence of warming-driven vegetation changes already 10 years after its establishment in 1994. Another decade later, in 2014, substantial compositional changes with increasing ratios of warmth-demanding to cold-adapted species have been found. The current study deals with species-specific responses involved in an ongoing vegetation transformation across the alpine–nival ecotone on Schrankogel by using presence/absence as well as cover data from permanent plots, situated between 2900 and 3400 masl. The number of occupied plots per species remained constant or even increased during the first decade, whereas disappearance events became more frequent during the second one, especially for cold-adapted specialists (subnival–nival species). Remarkably, the latter was accompanied by continued strong losses in cover of all subnival–nival species. These losses were more frequent in plots with a more thermophilous species composition, suggesting an increasing maladaptation of subnival–nival species to warmer habitat conditions and a successive trailing-edge decline. Several species with a distribution centre at lower elevations (alpine–subnival) markedly increased in cover, comparatively more so in colder plots, indicating a leading-edge expansion. Moreover, our findings show an increase in occupied plots and cover of almost all snowbed species, suggesting that areas previously with a too long snowpack period are now becoming suitable snowbed habitats. Vegetation gaps arising from population dieback of cold-adapted species, however, could only be partly filled by advancing species, indicating that species declines have occurred already before the onset of strong competition pressure.

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Section: Trailing-edge Contraction Of Crypophilic Species and Leading-edge Expansion Of Lower-elevation Speciessupporting

confidence: 87%

Dieback and expansions: species-specific responses during 20 years of amplified warming in the high Alps

et al. 2019

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“…For example, through this study, 5 species in SC (Acaena platyacantha, Benthamiella spegazziniana, Philippiella patagonica, V. moyanoi, and V. magellanica) and 3 in TF (A. antarctica, S. alloeophyllus var. alloeophyllus, and S. humifusus) were found outside of their expected elevation ranges, as was reported in other GLORIA works [17].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…These authors argue that the increase in species richness in those Australian alpine areas could be explained by the influence of other environmental factors (e.g., rainfall, microsite availability, species interactions, and dispersal/recruitment potential in the regional species pool) rather than climate warming. The influence of ENSO has already been demonstrated in South American alpine environments [17]. We found contrasting effects of ENSO in soil temperature and growing season in the two sites of the present study, that found inverse trends (e.g., higher soil temperatures in SC, but lower soil temperatures in TF during a La Niña event).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

Variation in Alpine Plant Diversity and Soil Temperatures in Two Mountain Landscapes of South Patagonia

et al. 2021

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Alpine environments and their temporal changes are rarely studied at high latitudes in the southern hemisphere. We analyzed alpine plants, soil temperatures, and growing-season length in mountains of two landscapes of South Patagonia (46° to 56° SL): three summits (814–1085 m a.s.l) surrounded by foothill grasslands in Santa Cruz province (SC), and four summits (634–864 m a.s.l.) in sub-Antarctic forests of Tierra del Fuego province (TF). Sampling followed the protocolized methodology of the Global Observational Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA). Factors were topography (elevation and cardinal aspect) and time (baseline vs. re-sampling for plants, five annual periods for temperatures), assessed by univariate and multivariate tests. Plant composition reflected the lowland surrounding landscapes, with only 9 mountain species on 52 totals in SC and 3 on 30 in TF. Richness was higher in re-sampling than baseline, being assemblages more influenced by aspect than elevation. Mean annual soil temperature and growing-season length, which varied with topography, were related to the Multivariate El Niño Southern Oscillation Index (MEI) but did not show clear warming trends over time. We highlight the importance of long-term studies in mountainous regions of extreme southern latitudes, where factors other than warming (e.g., extreme climate events) explain variations.

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“…Our results suggest that the use of thermal niche traits could be an effective approach for assessing the warming‐induced transformation of tropical alpine plant species compositions and the risk of biodiversity losses by means of repeated permanent plot surveys. Given that climate change impacts could be nonlinear (Carilla et al, ), it is important to strengthen long‐term ecological observation networks. All plots used in this study were established as permanent plots of the GLORIA‐Andes network.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal niche traits of high alpine plant species and communities across the tropical Andes and their vulnerability to global warming

Cuesta

Tovar

Llambí

et al. 2019

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim The climate variability hypothesis (CVH) predicts that locations with reduced seasonal temperature variation select for species with narrower thermal ranges. Here we (a) test the CVH by assessing the effect of latitude and elevation on the thermal ranges of Andean vascular plant species and communities, and (b) assess tropical alpine plants vulnerability to warming based on their thermal traits. Location High tropical Andes. Taxon Vascular plants. Methods Temperature data for 505 vascular plant species from alpine communities on 49 summits, were extracted from 29,627 georeferenced occurrences. Species thermal niche traits (TNTs) were estimated using bootstrapping for: minimum temperature, optimum (mean) temperature and breadth (maximum‐minimum). Plant community‐weighted scores were estimated using the TNTs of their constituent species. CVH was tested for species, biogeographical species groups and communities. Vulnerability to global warming was assessed for species, biogeographical species groups and communities. Results Species restricted to the equator showed narrower thermal niche breadth than species whose ranges stretch far from the equator, however, no difference in niche breadth was found across summits’ elevation. Biogeographical species groups distributed close to the equator and restricted to alpine regions showed narrower niche breadth than those with broader ranges. Community‐weighted scores of thermal niche breadth were positively related to distance from equator but not to elevation. Based on their TNTs, species restricted to equatorial latitudes and plant communities dominated by these species were identified as the most vulnerable to the projected 1.5°C warming, due to a potentially higher risk of losing thermal niche space. Main conclusions Our study confirms that the CVH applies to high tropical Andean plant species and communities, where latitude has a strong effect on the thermal niche breadth. TNTs are identified as suitable indicators of species’ vulnerability to warming and are suggested to be included in long‐term biodiversity monitoring in the Andes.

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Vegetation trends over eleven years on mountain summits in NW Argentina

Cited by 43 publications

References 57 publications

Dieback and expansions: species-specific responses during 20 years of amplified warming in the high Alps

Dieback and expansions: species-specific responses during 20 years of amplified warming in the high Alps

Variation in Alpine Plant Diversity and Soil Temperatures in Two Mountain Landscapes of South Patagonia

Thermal niche traits of high alpine plant species and communities across the tropical Andes and their vulnerability to global warming

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