The rich sides of mountain summits - a pan-European view on aspect preferences of alpine plants
Aim: In the alpine life zone, plant diversity is strongly determined by local topography and microclimate. We assessed the extent to which aspect and its relatedness to temperature affect plant species diversity, and the colonization and disappearance of species on alpine summits on a pan-European s...
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Published in | Journal of biogeography Vol. 43; no. 11; pp. 2261 - 2273 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Oxford
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
01.11.2016
John Wiley & Sons Ltd Wiley Subscription Services, Inc Wiley |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Aim: In the alpine life zone, plant diversity is strongly determined by local topography and microclimate. We assessed the extent to which aspect and its relatedness to temperature affect plant species diversity, and the colonization and disappearance of species on alpine summits on a pan-European scale. Location: Mountain summits in Europe's alpine life zone. Methods: Vascular plant species and their percentage cover were recorded in permanent plots in each cardinal direction on 123 summits in 32 regions across Europe. For a subset from 17 regions, resurvey data and 6-year soil temperature series were available. Differences in temperature sum and Shannon index as well as species richness, colonization and disappearance of species among cardinal directions were analysed using linear mixed-effects and generalised mixed-effects models, respectively. Results: Temperature sums were higher in east-and south-facing aspects than in the north-facing ones, while the west-facing ones were intermediate; differences were smallest in northern Europe. The patterns of temperature sums among aspects were consistent among years. In temperate regions, thermal differences were reflected by plant diversity, whereas this relationship was weaker or absent on Mediterranean and boreal mountains. Colonization of species was positively related to temperature on Mediterranean and temperate mountains, whereas disappearance of species was not related to temperature. Main conclusions: Thermal differences caused by solar radiation determine plant species diversity on temperate mountains. Advantages for plants on eastern slopes may result from the combined effects of a longer diurnal period of radiation due to convection cloud effects in the afternoon and the sheltered position against the prevailing westerly winds. In northern Europe, long summer days and low sun angles can even out differences among aspects. On Mediterranean summits, summer drought may limit species numbers on the warmer slopes. Warmer aspects support a higher number of colonization events. Hence, aspect can be a principal determinant of the pace of climate-induced migration processes. |
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Bibliography: | Swiss MAVA Foundation project ArticleID:JBI12835 CNRS Madrid Regional Government - No. REMEDINAL3-CM; No. S2013/MAE-2719 Appendix S1 Characteristics of summits in 32 European mountain regions.Appendix S2 Temperature sum thresholds and growing season lengths. Appendix S3 Gaps in soil temperature measurements. Appendix S4 Species pool definition. Appendix S5 Soil temperature sums among cardinal directions. Appendix S6 Plant diversity among cardinal directions. AppendixS7Species colonization and disappearance among cardinal directions. ark:/67375/WNG-29B5QXN4-J Russian Foundation for Basic Research - No. RFBR 15-05-05549 A Slovak grant agency - No. VEGA 2/0025/13 Aragón Regional Government Switzerland - No. OFES 00.0184-1 istex:CD2C74BF5AACC7DDC19DD5DE69F36509F53242FF European Union FP-5 project GLORIA-Europe - No. EVK2-CT-2000-0006 |
ISSN: | 0305-0270 1365-2699 |
DOI: | 10.1111/jbi.12835 |