Climate vs. topography – spatial patterns of plant species diversity and endemism on a high‐elevation island

Irl, Severin D. H.; Harter, David E. V.; Steinbauer, Manuel J.; Gallego, David; Fernández‐Palacios, José María; Jentsch, Anke; Beierkuhnlein, Carl

doi:10.1111/1365-2745.12463

Cited by 154 publications

(174 citation statements)

References 81 publications

(157 reference statements)

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“…While using spatial statistics for examining spatial resolution are very common in ecology [84][85][86], we only know of one example where these methods have been used to address the effects of thematic resolution [87]. Vicente et al [87] provides an example of the use of spatial autocorrelation analysis (using Moran's I and Geary's C) and statistical clustering to identify scales of spatial patterning of environmental factors for a range of thematic and spatial resolutions.…”

Section: Recent Progress (Post-2010) In Research On the Effects Of Spmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Progress on Spatial and Thematic Resolution in Landscape Ecology

Lechner

Rhodes

2016

Curr Landscape Ecol Rep

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In this review we examine the past 5 years of landscape ecology research examining the effects of both spatial and thematic resolution on ecological analysis. While spatial resolution has been a topic of research for many decades, scale effects from thematic resolution have only recently been studied. Recent multi-scale analyses have demonstrated that the effects of thematic resolution on ecological analysis are comparable to spatial resolution and both spatial and thematic resolution interact. Additionally, spatial and thematic resolution can impact on multi-scale methods that are commonly used to identify the intrinsic scale-the scale at which ecological phenomena interact with the environment. A key aim of multi-scale analysis in landscape ecology is to characterise the scale-dependency of ecological processes, however, the interdisciplinary nature of landscape ecology means that research on scale has incorporated methods from a range of disciplines. These methods and concepts include: 1) multi-scale methods which characterise the sensitivity of an analysis to the modifiable areal unit problem, 2) spatial statistics for characterising the scale dependency of landscape patterns and identifying the optimal scale and 3) ecological theory describing intrinsic scales/domains of scales. We conclude by drawing on the existing literature to describe potential future areas of research to address the impacts of spatial and thematic resolution. We suggest further research on the effects of thematic resolution and conceptualising the scale continuum as multi-dimensional. We also identify mechanistic models and spatial statistics as a promising direction for future research.

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Section: Recent Progress (Post-2010) In Research On the Effects Of Spmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Progress on Spatial and Thematic Resolution in Landscape Ecology

Lechner

Rhodes

2016

Curr Landscape Ecol Rep

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“…Specifically, roads have a homogenizing effect on resident communities via local extinctions of native species and the spread of alien species with broad environmental ranges . However, there is evidence that endemic species may colonize roadside habitats, particularly those associated with the creation of non-shaded bedrock on steep slopes (Irl et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distributional patterns of endemic, native and alien species along a roadside elevation gradient in Tenerife, Canary Islands

et al. 2015

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Abstract:Invasion by alien plant species may be rapid and aggressive, causing erosion of local biodiversity. This is particularly true for islands, where natural and anthropogenic corridors promote the rapid spread of invasive plants. Although evidence shows that corridors may facilitate plant invasions, the question of how their importance in the spread of alien species varies along environmental gradients deserves more attention. Here, we addressed this issue by examining diversity patterns (species richness of endemic, native and alien species) along and across roads, along an elevation gradient from sea-level up to 2050 m a.s.l. in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain), at multiple spatial scales. Species richness was assessed using a multi-scale sampling design consisting of 59 T-transects of 150 m × 2 m, along three major roads each placed over the whole elevation gradient. Each transect was composed of three sections of five plots each: Section 1 was located on the road edges, Section 2 at intermediate distance, and Section 3 far from the road edge, the latter representing the "native community" less affected by road-specific disturbance. The effect of elevation and distance from roadsides was evaluated for the three groups of species (endemic, native and alien species), using parametric and non-parametric regression analyses as well as additive diversity partitioning. Differences among roads explained the majority of the variation in alien species richness and composition. Patterns in alien species richness were also affected by elevation, with a decline in richness with increasing elevation and no alien species recorded at high elevations. Elevation was the most important factor determining patterns in endemic and native species. These findings confirm that climate filtering reflected in varying patterns along elevational gradients is an important determinant of the richness of alien species (which are not adapted to high elevations), while anthropogenic pressures may explain the richness of alien species at low elevation.

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“…Moreover, we show that the distribution of fruit types is related to rather different patterns of endemism and phylogenetic structure depending on the climatic variables. These observations demonstrate the relevance of high‐elevation oceanic islands as study systems of ecological trait distribution (Irl et al., ; Santos et al., ; Warren et al., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Why are woody plants fleshy‐fruited at low elevations? Evidence from a high‐elevation oceanic island

Albert¹,

Flores²,

Wilding

et al. 2018

J Vegetation Science

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Question The composition of fruit types, fleshy vs dry fruits, greatly influences the functioning of plant communities. Literature documenting spatial patterns of fruit types at fine scale is abundant. However, studies at larger geographical scale remain scarce, especially on high‐elevation oceanic islands that provide a great environmental heterogeneity. Here, we investigated how abiotic factors explained the proportion of fleshy‐fruited species (pFF) on Réunion. We asked (a) which abiotic factors were most related to pFF, (b) if fleshy‐fruited canopy species were more sensitive than fleshy‐fruited shrubs to harsh climatic conditions and (c) what are the relationships between pFF, endemism and phylogenetic relatedness. Location Réunion (3,070 m a.s.l), Mascarene archipelago, South‐West Indian Ocean. Methods We used a dataset of 429 vegetation plots and assigned fruit types, growth forms and geographical distribution to 213 native woody species. Phylogenetic trees were constructed for each plot. We used GLMs to measure the relationship between pFF and abiotic factors, controlling for spatial autocorrelation. We then assessed the relationship between pFF, the standardized net relatedness index and the proportion of endemic species. Results The top model explained 78% of the variation in pFF. Elevation was by far the best predictor, with pFF decreasing from 81% at 50 m a.s.l to 0% at 3,000 m a.s.l. At low elevations, pFF was higher on the wet windward (81%) than on the leeward (70%) where phylogenetic clustering was evident. Almost half (48%) of woody plants was fleshy‐fruited trees at low elevations. The proportion of fleshy‐fruited trees declined sharply with elevation and was significantly related to precipitation of the driest month contrary to the proportion of fleshy‐fruited shrubs that showed a hump shaped pattern along elevational gradient and no correlation with precipitation of the driest month. At high elevations, most plant assemblages were phylogenetically clustered and strongly dominated by single‐island endemic dry‐fruited plants. Conclusions The striking relationship between pFF and elevation, the shift among fleshy‐fruited growth forms along climatic gradients and the phylogenetic clustering of assemblages subjected to harsh climatic conditions, suggested that climatic factors were the main drivers of the distribution of fruit types on Réunion. To explain the absence of fleshy‐fruited species at high elevations, we hypothesized that native fleshy‐fruited lineages lacked the evolutionary potential to adapt and fleshy‐fruited cold‐adapted lineages had major difficulties reaching Réunion.

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Climate vs. topography – spatial patterns of plant species diversity and endemism on a high‐elevation island

Cited by 154 publications

References 81 publications

Recent Progress on Spatial and Thematic Resolution in Landscape Ecology

Recent Progress on Spatial and Thematic Resolution in Landscape Ecology

Distributional patterns of endemic, native and alien species along a roadside elevation gradient in Tenerife, Canary Islands

Why are woody plants fleshy‐fruited at low elevations? Evidence from a high‐elevation oceanic island

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