The rich sides of mountain summits - a pan-European view on aspect preferences of alpine plants

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Serval ID
serval:BIB_E5BEAC1FA241
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
The rich sides of mountain summits - a pan-European view on aspect preferences of alpine plants
Journal
Journal of Biogeography
Author(s)
Winkler M., Lamprecht A., Steinbauer K., Hülber K., Theurillat J.-P., Breiner F., Choler P., Ertl S., Gutiérrez Girón A., Rossi G., Vittoz P., Akhalkatsi M., Bay C., Benito Alonso J.L., Bergström T., Carranza M.L., Corcket E., Dick J., Erschbamer B., Fernández Calzado R., Fosaa A.M., Gavilán R.G., Ghosn D., Gigauri K., Huber D., Kanka R., Kazakis G., Klipp M., Kollar J., Kudernatsch T., Larsson P., Mallaun M., Michelsen O., Moiseev P., Moiseev D., Molau U., Molero Mesa J., Morra di Cella U., Nagy L., Petey M., Pușcaș M., Rixen C., Stanisci A., Suen M., Syverhuset A.O., Tomaselli M., Unterluggauer P., Ursu T., Villar L., Gottfried M., Pauli H.
ISSN
0305-0270
ISSN-L
1365-2699
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2016
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
43
Number
11
Pages
2261-2273
Language
english
Abstract
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 tem-perature 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 missing 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.
Keywords
alpine life zone, climate change, Europe, GLORIA, long-term monitoring, slope aspect, soil temperature, species diversity, vascular plants
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Create date
21/07/2016 9:22
Last modification date
20/08/2019 16:09
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