Facilitation among plants in alpine environments in the face of climate change

Abstract

While there is a large consensus that plant–plant interactions are a crucial component of the response of plant communities to the effects of climate change, available data remain scarce, particularly in alpine systems. This represents an important obstacle to making consistent predictions about the future of plant communities. Here, we review current knowledge on the effects of climate change on facilitation among alpine plant communities and propose directions for future research. In established alpine communities, while warming seemingly generates a net facilitation release, earlier snowmelt may increase facilitation. Some nurse plants are able to buffer microenvironmental changes in the long term and may ensure the persistence of other alpine plants through local migration events. For communities migrating to higher elevations, facilitation should play an important role in their reorganization because of the harsher environmental conditions. In particular, the absence of efficient nurse plants might slow down upward migration, possibly generating chains of extinction. Facilitation–climate change relationships are expected to shift along latitudinal gradients because (1) the magnitude of warming is predicted to vary along these gradients, and (2) alpine environments are significantly different at low vs. high latitudes. Data on these expected patterns are preliminary and thus need to be tested with further studies on facilitation among plants in alpine environments that have thus far not been considered. From a methodological standpoint, future studies will benefit from the spatial representation of the microclimatic environment of plants to predict their response to climate change. Moreover, the acquisition of long-term data on the dynamics of plant–plant interactions, either through permanent plots or chronosequences of glacial recession, may represent powerful approaches to clarify the relationship between plant interactions and climate change.

Thermal niche traits of high alpine plant species and communities across the tropical Andes and their vulnerability to global warming

“…physiological stress) and indirect (e.g. facilitation and competition among species) effects on species abundance changes and range shift (Anthelme, Cavieres, & Dangles, ; Lamprecht, Semenchuk, Steinbauer, Winkler, & Pauli, ), which are enhanced by topographic complexity in alpine environments (Graae et al, ) and limitations of plant dispersal and colonization (Zimmer et al, ). Yet, we did not account for such differential effects, because the study focuses on a large and complex mountain region and included many species, where little, if anything, is yet known about their individual responses to ongoing climate change.…”

Cushion plants can have a positive effect on diversity at high elevations in the Himalayan Hengduan Mountains

“…Assuming an upward migration of plants into higher elevations due to the effects of global warming (Baker & Moseley ) and potential relevance of facilitation by cushion plants for this shift (Anthelme et al. ), the sampling sites were chosen to be located as close as possible to the upper altitudinal limit of the cushion distributions. This allowed us to examine the facilitative effect of the cushion plants on other plant species at the leading edge of the expected migration process.…”

“…The role of biotic factors (facilitation/competition) in structuring plant communities at high elevations has received some recent attention (reviewed by Anthelme et al. ). In a global set of experiments in mountain plant communities, Callaway et al.…”

“…Facilitating species may provide efficient biotic refuges for up‐migrating plants during primary succession of newly available areas (Anthelme et al. ). Understanding facilitation is, therefore, not only crucial for understanding current biodiversity of alpine plant communities but also for predictions of alpine plant community responses to a changing climate (Anthelme et al.…”

“…Understanding facilitation is, therefore, not only crucial for understanding current biodiversity of alpine plant communities but also for predictions of alpine plant community responses to a changing climate (Anthelme et al. ).…”