Changes in the High-mountain Vegetation of the Central Iberian Peninsula as a Probable Sign of Global Warming

Sanz‐Elorza, Mario; Dana, Elías D.; González, Alberto; Sobrino, E.

doi:10.1093/aob/mcg130

Cited by 180 publications

(143 citation statements)

References 13 publications

(13 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

122

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The study of relationships between climate and vegetation have been pointed out by different authors (Gavilán et al, 1998;Foley et al, 1998;González-Rebollar, 2000;Oturbay & Loidi, 2001;Peñuelas & Boada, 2003;Gordon et al, 2003, Sanz-Elorza et al, 2003del Río, 2005;del Río et al, 2005a,b;Gavilán, 2005;del Río & Penas 2006a,b;Gavilán et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Recent climatic trends in Castilla and León (Spain) and its possible influence on the potential natural vegetation

Río

Herrero

Penas

2009

Acta Botanica Gallica

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract.-Precipitation and mean temperature trends at monthly, seasonal and annual time scale for Castilla and León during the period 1961-2004 were analysed in the present study. The main aims of this paper were to find out if these tendencies differ from those pointed out for this region in a previous research for the period 1961-1997 and to establish, based on bioclimatic models, possible changes on the potential natural vegetation of this territory if these trends do not change in future. Magnitude of trends was derived from the slopes of the regression lines while the statistical significance was determined by the Mann-Kendall test. Magnitude and sign of rainfall and temperature trends over the last four decades have been essentially the same than those concerning to the period 1961-1997. It can be concluded that if these trends keep in future areas with temperate climate could increase in this region. In this situation, deciduous forests could extend their distribution limits, thus replacing some semi-deciduous and evergreen ones.Key words : bioclimatology -Castilla and León -climatic trends -potential natural vegetation -Spain.Résumé.-On examine ici les tendances de précipitation et température moyenne mensuelle, saisonnière et annuelle pour la plus grande région de l`Espagne (Castilla et León) pendant la période 1961-2004. Le première objectif était découvrir si ces tendances ont été différentes de celles précisées pour cette région dans une recherche précédente pour la période 1961-1997 et en même temps d'établir, en fonction des modèles bioclimatiques, les changements possibles sur la végétation potentielle de ce territoire. L'intensité de cette tendance a été déduite des pentes de lignes de régression par l´utilisation de la méthode des moindres carrés et la signification statistique a été aussi déterminée par le test non paramétrique Mann-Kendall. Le sens des tendances de précipitations au cours des quarante-quatre dernières années est le même que celui de la période 1961-1997. En conclusion, si ces tendances continuent dans le futur, les secteurs de climat tempéré pourraient augmenter dans cette région. En consé-quence, les forêts à feuilles caduques pourront accroître leur aire en remplaçant un certain nombre de forêts à feuilles semi-caduques et persistantes.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Recent climatic trends in Castilla and León (Spain) and its possible influence on the potential natural vegetation

Río

Herrero

Penas

2009

Acta Botanica Gallica

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although there are now numerous reports of ongoing climate-related range changes of woody species (see e.g. Wardle & Coleman, 1992;Meshinev et al, 2000;Sturm et al, 2001;Kullman, 2002Kullman, , 2003Lloyd & Fastie, 2003;Peñ uelas & Boada, 2003;Sanz-Elorza et al, 2003), these are heavily biased toward the leading edge of the species' distribution. As recruitment is generally more sensitive to climate than mortality, an increase in reproduction at the expanding range edge of a tree species' distribution occurs more rapidly than an increase in the mortality of established trees at the retreating edge (LaMarche, 1973;Lloyd, 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid climate change‐related growth decline at the southern range edge of Fagus sylvatica

Jump

Hunt

Peñuelas

2006

Global Change Biology

579

422

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Studies on Fagus sylvatica show that growth in populations toward the southern limit of this species' distribution is limited strongly by drought. Warming temperatures in the Mediterranean region are expected to exacerbate drought where they are not accompanied by increases in precipitation. We studied levels of annual growth in mature F. sylvatica trees over the last half-century in the Montseny Mountains in Catalonia (northeast Spain). Our results show significantly lower growth of mature trees at the lower limit of this species' distribution when compared with trees at higher altitudes. Growth at the lower Fagus limit is characterized by a rapid recent decline starting in approximately 1975. By 2003, growth of mature trees had fallen by 49% when compared with predecline levels. This is not an age-related phenomenon, nor is it seen in comparable populations at higher altitudes. Analysis of climate-growth relationships suggests that the observed decline in growth is a result of warming temperatures and that, as precipitation in the region has not increased, precipitation is now insufficient to ameliorate the negative effects of increased temperatures on tree growth. As the climateresponse of the studied forest is comparable with that of F. sylvatica forests in other southern European regions, it is possible that this growth decline is a more widespread phenomenon. Warming temperatures may lead to a rapid decline in the growth of rangeedge populations and a consequent retreat of the species distribution in southern Europe. Assessment of long-term growth trends across the southern range edge of F. sylvatica therefore merits further attention.

show abstract

“…by species exhibiting less water requirements-Q. pyrenaica , Quercus faginea and Juniperus thurifera (Sobrino et al 2001;Peñuelas and Boada 2003;Sanz-Elorza et al 2003;Valladares et al 2005Valladares et al , 2008Mendoza et al 2006;Jump et al 2006). In the same sense, the forests of Mediterranean mountains might be subjected to new disruptive factors resulting from increased temperature, summer desiccation, a greater recurrence of extreme drought and heat waves, such as the spread of exotic thermophilous or xerophyllous species (Brasier 1996;Gritti et al 2006), perhaps increasing the frequency of natural and man-made fires (Piñol et al 1998;Pausas 2004;Moriondo et al 2006;Bowman et al 2009;Pausas and Fernández-Muñoz 2012), or a higher incidence of pests heretofore only observed at lower elevations (Hódar et al 2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Summer rainfall variability in European Mediterranean mountains from the sixteenth to the twentieth century reconstructed from tree rings

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Since the end of the last glacial period, European Mediterranean mountains have provided shelter for numerous species of Eurosiberian and Boreal origin. Many of these species, surviving at the southern limit of their range in Europe and surrounded by Mediterranean ones, are relatively intolerant to summer drought and are in grave danger of loss, as a result of increasingly long and frequent droughts in this region. This is the case of the Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and the Austrian pine (Pinus nigra ssp. salzmannii) which are found on Central Iberian Peninsula at the edge of their natural range. We used a tree ring network of these two species to reconstruct past variations in summer rainfall. The reconstruction, based upon a tree ring composite chronology of the species, dates back to 1570 (adjusted R 2 = 0.49, P < 0.000001) and captures interannual to decadal scale variability in summer precipitation. We studied the spatial representativeness of the rainfall patterns and described the occurrence rate of extremes of this precipitation. To identify associations between macroclimatic factors and tree radial growth, we employed a principal component analysis to calculate the resultant of the relationship between the growth data of both species, using this resultant as a dependent variable of a multiple regression whose independent variables are monthly mean temperature and precipitation from the average records. Spatial correlation patterns between instrumental precipitation datasets for southern Europe and reconstructed values for the 1950-1992 period indicate that the reconstruction captures the regional signal of drought variability in the study region (the origin of this precipitation is convective: thermal low pressure zones induced in the inland northeastern areas of the Iberian Peninsula). There is a clear increase in the recurrence of extreme dry events as from the beginning of twentieth century and an abrupt change to drier conditions. There appears to be a tendency toward recurrent exceptionally dry summers, which could involve a significant change for the Eurosiberian refugee species.

show abstract

Changes in the High-mountain Vegetation of the Central Iberian Peninsula as a Probable Sign of Global Warming

Cited by 180 publications

References 13 publications

Recent climatic trends in Castilla and León (Spain) and its possible influence on the potential natural vegetation

Recent climatic trends in Castilla and León (Spain) and its possible influence on the potential natural vegetation

Rapid climate change‐related growth decline at the southern range edge of Fagus sylvatica

Summer rainfall variability in European Mediterranean mountains from the sixteenth to the twentieth century reconstructed from tree rings

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About