Climate change simulations in Alpine summer pastures suggest a disruption of current vegetation zonation

Peringer, Alexander; Frank, Viktoria; Snell, Rebecca S.

doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2022.e02140

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…The higher mean annual air temperature in Mt Zireia could have led to the upward shift in treeline (Figure 7) since most researchers agree that it is the main driver of upward expansion of the treeline [8,[95][96][97][98][99][100][101]. Particularly young trees respond to environmental change by closing the forest gaps [100,102].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Alpine and pseudo-alpine grasslands are hotspots for biodiversity and have significant cultural heritage values [8], supporting numerous rare and/or endangered animals and plants species. They provide many ecosystem services, such as nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) storage [6,9], water purification and retention [6,10], valuable genetic material storage [2], provision of pharmaceuticals [11], soil conservation [9,11], nutrient recycling, pollination and climate regulation [11], forage for animals [11], and can generate substantial economic value through the production of meat and milk [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While there have been numerous studies on how climate change affects treeline, there are no studies, as far as we are aware, about alpine grasslands. The changes in both climate and land use pose a threat to the long-term survival of the existing plant mosaic in the pseudo-alpine grasslands [8]. This study aimed to investigate the impact of climatic change and abandonment of transhumant livestock grazing system on the pseudo-alpine grassland ecosystem structure and stability of two mountains in Greece.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of Transhumant Livestock Grazing Abandonment on Pseudo-Alpine Grasslands in Greece in the Context of Climatic Change

Sidiropoulou

Chouvardas

Mantzanas

et al. 2022

Land

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Pseudo-alpine grassland ecosystems have started to decline during the past few decades. According to many studies, climate change and abandonment of traditional anthropogenic activities are directly linked to this phenomenon. However, the interaction of these two factors with pseudo-alpine grasslands has not been studied in Greece. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of climatic change and abandonment of transhumant livestock grazing on pseudo-alpine grassland ecosystems structure and stability in Mt Vermio and Mt Zireia. Geographic Information System data on land use/land cover from 1945 and 2020, as well as climatological and livestock data, have been examined and presented. Landscape metrics were also used to quantify landscape structure changes. Although both mountains’ pseudo-alpine grasslands have reduced in size, Mt Zireia has experienced an upward treeline shift, which seems to be the result of climate change, while in Mt Vermio, the more severe transhumance abandonment caused horizontal tree expansion. There are strong indications that a rise in temperature is the main driver for the upward increase in treeline.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of Transhumant Livestock Grazing Abandonment on Pseudo-Alpine Grasslands in Greece in the Context of Climatic Change

Sidiropoulou

Chouvardas

Mantzanas

et al. 2022

Land

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“…Generally, treeline advance is a widespread phenomenon. It has been reported over large parts of Switzerland [22,[54][55][56] but also for locations around the world [6,57,58]. However, treeline advance is not a ubiquitous phenomenon as literature reviews have revealed that only about half of the investigated treelines around the world are currently advancing [8,11].…”

Section: Densification Of the Treeline Ecotone Due To Advance And Inf...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for 40 Years of Treeline Shift in a Central Alpine Valley

Frei

Barbeito

Erdle

et al. 2023

Forests

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Alpine treeline ecosystems are generally expected to advance with increasing temperatures and after land-use abandonment. Multiple interacting factors modify this trend. Understanding the long-term processes underlying treeline advance is essential to predict future changes in structure and function of mountain ecosystems. In a valley in the Central Swiss Alps, we re-assessed a 40-year-old survey of all treeline trees (>0.5 m height) and disentangled climate, topographical, biotic, and disturbance (land use and avalanche risk) factors that have led to treeline advance with a combination of ground-based mapping, decision tree, and dendroecological analyses. Between the first ground survey in 1972/73 and the resurvey in 2012, treeline advanced on average by 10 meters per decade with a maximum local advance of 42 meters per decade. Larch consistently advanced more on south-facing slopes, while pine advance was greater on north-facing slopes. Newly established spruce mostly represented infilling below the previous treeline. The forefront of treeline advance above 2330 m a.s.l. occurred mainly on favorable microsites without competing dwarf shrub vegetation. At slightly lower elevations, treeline advanced mainly on sites that were used for agriculture at the beginning of the 20th century. This study indicates that although treeline advances under the effect of climate warming, a combination of additional ecological factors controls this advance at regional and local scales.

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“…Additionally, biotic change, which refers to changes in the distribution and abundance of plant species within an ecosystem, is also becoming more apparent in mountain summits [4]. These changes have far-reaching consequences for ecosystem stability, functioning, species richness, and biodiversity in different vegetation belts [5] and change soil and hydrological conditions [6]. Furthermore, this phenomenon is having a direct impact on pasture management [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combining Multitemporal Optical and Radar Satellite Data for Mapping the Tatra Mountains Non-Forest Plant Communities

Kluczek,

Zagajewski,

Kycko

2024

Remote Sensing

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Climate change is significantly affecting mountain plant communities, causing dynamic alterations in species composition as well as spatial distribution. This raises the need for constant monitoring. The Tatra Mountains are the highest range of the Carpathians which are considered biodiversity hotspots in Central Europe. For this purpose, microwave Sentinel-1 and optical multi-temporal Sentinel-2 data, topographic derivatives, and iterative machine learning methods incorporating classifiers random forest (RF), support vector machines (SVMs), and XGBoost (XGB) were used for the identification of thirteen non-forest plant communities (various types of alpine grasslands, shrublands, herbaceous heaths, mountain hay meadows, rocks, and scree communities). Different scenarios were tested to identify the most important variables, retrieval periods, and spectral bands. The overall accuracy results for the individual algorithms reached RF (0.83–0.96), SVM (0.87–0.93), and lower results for XGBoost (0.69–0.82). The best combination, which included a fusion of Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, and topographic data, achieved F1-scores for classes in the range of 0.73–0.97 (RF) and 0.66–0.95 (SVM). The inclusion of topographic variables resulted in an improvement in F1-scores for Sentinel-2 data by one–four percent points and Sentinel-1 data by 1%–9%. For spectral bands, the Sentinel-2 10 m resolution bands B4, B3, and B2 showed the highest mean decrease accuracy. The final result is the first comprehensive map of non-forest vegetation for the Tatra Mountains area.

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Climate change simulations in Alpine summer pastures suggest a disruption of current vegetation zonation

Cited by 7 publications

References 41 publications

Impact of Transhumant Livestock Grazing Abandonment on Pseudo-Alpine Grasslands in Greece in the Context of Climatic Change

Impact of Transhumant Livestock Grazing Abandonment on Pseudo-Alpine Grasslands in Greece in the Context of Climatic Change

Evidence for 40 Years of Treeline Shift in a Central Alpine Valley

Combining Multitemporal Optical and Radar Satellite Data for Mapping the Tatra Mountains Non-Forest Plant Communities

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