Montane forest expansion at high elevations drives rapid reduction in non‐forest area, despite no change in mean forest elevation

Morley, Peter J.; Donoghue, Daniel N.M.; Chen, Jan-Chang; Jump, Alistair S.

doi:10.1111/jbi.13951

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 53 publications

(123 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Although the overall mismatch at the upper range boundary showed no significant difference across all species, critically, there was substantial difference at an individual species level. Upward shifts were the most common response of high elevation species, which is consistent with high altitude trees generally being more temperature limited than trees from warmer areas (Way and Oren 2010), high elevation montane environments warming at a faster rate than lower elevations (Pepin et al 2015) and high elevation plant species likely to be competitively excluded under warmer temperatures (Alexander et al 2015, Morley et al 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Onward but not always upward: individualistic elevational shifts of tree species in subtropical montane forests

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ongoing global climate change is driving widespread shifts in species distributions. Trends show frequent upwards shifts of treelines, but information on changes in montane forest below the treeline and in the tropics and subtropics is limited, despite the importance of these areas for biodiversity and ecosystem function. Patterns of species shifts in tropical and subtropical regions are likely to be more complex and individualistic than global averages suggest due to high species diversity and strong influence of competition, alongside direct climatic limitations on distributions. To address the question of how subtropical montane tree species are likely to move as climate changes, we used an extensive national forest inventory to estimate distribution shifts of 75 tree species in Taiwan by comparing the optimum elevation and range edges of adults and juveniles within species. Overall there was a significant difference in optimum elevation of adults and juveniles. Life stage mismatches suggested upward shifts in 35% of species but downward shifts of over half (56%), while 8% appeared stable. Upward elevation shifts were disproportionately common in high elevation species, whilst mid to low elevation species suggested greater variation in shift direction. Whilst previous research on mountain forest range shifts has been dominated by work addressing changes in treeline position, we show that although high elevation species shift up, below the treeline species may shift individualistically, heralding widespread changes in forest communities over coming decades. The wide variation of responses indicated is likely driven by individual species responses to interacting environmental factors such as competition, topography and anthropogenic influences across the broad range of forest types investigated. As global environmental changes continue, more detailed understanding of tree range shifts across a wide spectrum of forests will allow us to prepare for the implications of such changes for biodiversity, ecosystem function and dependent human populations.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Onward but not always upward: individualistic elevational shifts of tree species in subtropical montane forests

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Smaller needles and higher SD were observed on east facing slopes, while larger needles were common to moderately steep slopes (~15–25°). High variability in vegetation across Taiwan’s mountain forests has been linked to slope and aspect differences, with east and south facing slopes experiencing the greatest gains in forest area between 1963 and 2016 (Morley et al, 2020), and moderately steep, east facing slopes experiencing the highest seedling recruitment (Greenwood et al, 2014, 2015). These differences are likely driven by variation in factors such as microclimate (Lembrechts & Lenoir, 2019) and soil moisture across different topographies (Körner, 2007; Lambrecht & Dawson, 2007), resulting in variations in stand development, composition and interspecific competition which likely further influence trait variation (Vilà‐Cabrera et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Smaller needles and higher SD were observed on east facing slopes, while larger needles were common to moderately steep slopes (~15-25°). High variability in vegetation across Taiwan's mountain forests has been linked to slope and aspect differences, with east and south facing slopes experiencing the greatest gains in forest area between 1963 and 2016 (Morley et al, 2020), and moderately steep, east facing slopes experiencing the highest seedling recruitment (Greenwood et al, 2014(Greenwood et al, , 2015.…”

Section: Variation In Functional Traits Across the Species Rangementioning

confidence: 99%

High intraspecific trait variation results in a resource allocation spectrum of a subtropical pine across an elevational gradient

O'Sullivan

Vilà‐Cabrera

Chen

et al. 2022

Journal of Biogeography

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aim: Plant functional traits are broadly used to quantify and predict impacts of climate change on vegetation. However, high intraspecific trait variation can bias mean values when few measurements are available. Here, we determine the extent of individual leaf trait variation and covariation across a highly heterogeneous environmental gradient for a widely distributed subtropical pine. We demonstrate the implications of trait variation for characterising species by assessing data availability and variability across the Pinus genus.Location: Central Mountain Range, Taiwan.Taxon: Pinus taiwanensis Hayata (Pinaceae). Methods:We measured eight functional traits suggested to reflect plant strategies: needle length, area, thickness, dry and fresh mass, stomatal row density (SD), leaf dry matter content (LDMC) and specific leaf area (SLA). We examined trait variation in response to climatic and physiographic factors across an elevational gradient of 495-3106 m a.s.l. using linear mixed effects models (LMMs). Intraspecific trait covariation was explored using principal component analyses (PCAs) and LMMs. Descriptive statistics were calculated for Pinus records in the global TRY plant trait database.Results: Intraspecific variability among traits was high (CV 20%-44%) and predictable with elevation (generally p < 0.05, with declining needle size and LDMC with elevation and increasing SD). However, 41%-92% of variance was un-explained by topography. Sixty-five percent of variation was explained by two trait covariation axes, with predictable changes with elevation (p < 0.001). Pinus data availability in TRY was low.Across traits, only 12.5%-53% of species had sufficient sample sizes for intraspecific analyses. Main conclusions:We show substantial trait variation for a single species, here likely driven by temperature differences and additional biotic and abiotic drivers across the elevational range. Improved understanding of the extent and implications of intraspecific variability is necessary for reliable quantifications and predictions of the impacts of environmental change, especially in understudied, hyper-diverse ecosystems such as tropical forests.

show abstract

“…As such, the bunch-grassland habitats, called zacatonal in Mexico, may be squeezed elevationally between the advancing forest and bare rock, and appear to be disappearing at a rather fast rate, particularly on Tancítaro, La Malinche, and Tláloc volcanoes (Sánchez & López, 2003). Given the observed rates of reduction in areal coverage of bunch grassland, around 38.2% (range 46.8% increase to 78.7% decrease) over 1986-2018, or a 1.2% yearly loss ( a recent evaluation of treeline shifts in montane parts of Taiwan (Morley et al 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Remotely sensed data have been particularly useful in documenting global change at different spatial scales—for example, treeline changes have been studied using this tool at local (Singh et al 2012; Zhang et al 2009a) and continental or global (Seddon et al 2016) scales. Treeline shifts have been evaluated using remote‐sensing data in different parts of Asia (Luo & Dai, 2013; Morley et al 2020; Singh et al 2012; Zhang et al 2009b), America (Bader & Ruijten, 2008), and Europe (Wallentin et al 2008), although detection and differentiation of treelines represent a significant challenge of processing and inference (Hill et al 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Upward shifts in elevational limits of forest and grassland for Mexican volcanoes over three decades

Jiménez‐García

Lira‐Noriega

et al. 2021

Biotropica

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Global climates have been warming over the past four decades, with many implications and effects on species and natural communities, in terms of shifts in geographic and elevational ranges. Nonetheless, major knowledge gaps exist, particularly for tropical regions, as regards the timescale and rate of range shifts. We used Landsat imagery to characterize the upper limits of forest and of bunch grassland on the 15 highest (>3500 m) volcanoes of central Mexico over three decades , and documented upward vegetation shifts averaging >490 m in elevation over this period. Treelines showed upward shifts averaging 17.3 m/year over 1986-2018; for one eastern Mexican volcano (Sierra Negra), the NDVI-based rate (35.7 m/year) contrasts dramatically with a rate of 4.5 m/year measured over the preceding century for that volcano based on comparisons of photographs. These upward elevational shifts imply areal reductions for high-elevation habitats, and particularly for the bunch grassland that is the focus of considerable local endemism.

show abstract

Montane forest expansion at high elevations drives rapid reduction in non‐forest area, despite no change in mean forest elevation

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 11 publications

References 53 publications

Onward but not always upward: individualistic elevational shifts of tree species in subtropical montane forests

Onward but not always upward: individualistic elevational shifts of tree species in subtropical montane forests

High intraspecific trait variation results in a resource allocation spectrum of a subtropical pine across an elevational gradient

Upward shifts in elevational limits of forest and grassland for Mexican volcanoes over three decades

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About