Potential Impacts of Climate Change on<i>Sphagnum</i>Bogs of the Southern Appalachian Mountains

Schultheis, Elizabeth H.; Hopfensperger, Kristine N.; Brenner, Jacob C.

doi:10.3375/043.030.0407

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 47 publications

(82 reference statements)

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“…Finally, our findings of a strong signal of climate on bog species extinctions in the Black Forest in Central Europe have general implications for peatland vegetation in mountain ranges of similar altitudinal limits worldwide. While many studies have already alerted the scientific community about the vulnerability of such systems in Central Europe (Essl et al, 2012) or eastern North America (Schultheis et al, 2010), ours are the first to document that these changes have already happened.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Climate change aggravates bog species extinctions in the Black Forest (Germany)

Sperle

Bruelheide

2020

Diversity and Distributions

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Climate change aggravates bog species extinctions in the Black Forest (Germany)

Sperle

Bruelheide

2020

Diversity and Distributions

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“…For example, if regional climate forecasts and microclimate characteristics indicate that physical stress regimes will weaken (Figure b), then managers may employ strategies to maintain habitat for rare plants by targeting their competitors (eg removal of woody shrubs that encroach into bogs; Schultheis et al . ). Alternatively, if stress regimes are expected to intensify (Figure c), then managers might assess the capacity of vulnerable species to move to other microhabitats – or other islands – with less extreme stress levels.…”

Section: Conclusion and Management Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…What if climate change reduces physical stress in an insular ecosystem? For example, warmer growing seasons with more frequent droughts could lower water tables and accelerate decomposition in mountain bogs, possibly reducing such stress factors as acidity, anoxia, and nutrient limitation (Schultheis et al 2010). This would constitute a leftward shift (Figure 5b), reducing physical stress and increasing competition.…”

Section: Reviewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Using a simple conceptual model of stress-regime alteration ( Figure 5) within a holistic framework for ecosystem vulnerability assessment, this existing knowledge can be leveraged into ecological predictions to inform management strategies (WebFigure 1; WebTable 3). For example, if regional climate forecasts and microclimate characteristics indicate that physical stress regimes will weaken (Figure 5b), then managers may employ strategies to maintain habitat for rare plants by targeting their competitors (eg removal of woody shrubs that encroach into bogs; Schultheis et al 2010). Alternatively, if stress regimes are expected to intensify (Figure 5c), then managers might assess the capacity of vulnerable species to move to other microhabitats -or other islands -with less extreme stress levels.…”

Section: Conclusion and Management Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ecological islands: conserving biodiversity hotspots in a changing climate

Cartwright

2019

Frontiers in Ecol & Environ

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For decades, botanists have recognized that rare plants are clustered into ecological “islands”: small and isolated habitat patches produced by landscape features such as sinkholes and bedrock outcrops. Insular ecosystems often provide unusually stressful microhabitats for plant growth (due, for example, to their characteristically thin soils, high temperatures, extreme pH, or limited nutrients) to which rare species are specially adapted. Climate‐driven changes to these stressors may undermine the competitive advantage of stress‐adapted species, allowing them to be displaced by competitors, or may overwhelm their coping strategies altogether. Special features of insular ecosystems – such as extreme habitat fragmentation and association with unusual landscape features – could also affect their climate sensitivity and adaptive capacity. To help predict and manage climate‐change impacts, I present a simple conceptual framework based on a synthesis of over 300 site‐level studies. Using this framework, conservation efforts can leverage existing ecological knowledge to anticipate habitat changes and design targeted strategies for conserving rare species.

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“…Thus, stochastic fine-scale processes can generate predictable coarse-scale dynamics within a disturbed system. Schultheis et al (2010) suggest that the projected increase in evapotranspiration coupled with atmospheric nitrogen deposition may lead to the drying up of bogs in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, which can lead to the system becoming a carbon source rather than a sink and to local extinction of many bog species allowing alternative ecosystems to replace the bogs.…”

Section: Effects Of Droughtmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of Climate Change on Vegetation Distribution No. 2 - Climate Change Induced Vegetation Shifts in the New World

Hufnágel¹,

Garamvölgyi²

2014

Appl Ecol Env Res

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Abstract. After giving an overview of climate change induced vegetation shifts in the Palearctic region in our previous paper, in this article we review literature available in Web of Science on North and South America. We study different geographical regions such as Canada, Alaska, California, Southwestern, Eastern and Southeastern USA, the Great Lakes region, the Great Plains, intermontane basins and plateaus, Rocky Mountains and the Cascades as well as Central and South America. We summarize main results of relevant field studies, experiments and model simulations. Predicted environmental changes include temperature increases, altering precipitation patterns, droughts, permafrost thaw and ground subsidence in arctic regions, enhanced El Niño Southern Oscillation, sea level rise, increasing salinity of the vadose zone, snowpack declines and various disturbances. All vegetation types are affected by these changes, to the most important phenomena belong e.g. reduction of arctic and alpine communities, decreasing area of taiga, shrub encroachment in tundra areas, northward expansion of the tree line, reduction in wetland areas, invasion, altering forest regeneration patterns, decrease in dominance of conifer species, increased cover of salt-tolerant plant species in tidal marshes, expansion of grassland, compositional and structural changes of grasslands and forests, drying up of bogs, landward migration of mangroves, savannification of forests, expansion of chaparral as well as upward migration of species in the mountains.

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Potential Impacts of Climate Change onSphagnumBogs of the Southern Appalachian Mountains

Cited by 7 publications

References 47 publications

Climate change aggravates bog species extinctions in the Black Forest (Germany)

Climate change aggravates bog species extinctions in the Black Forest (Germany)

Ecological islands: conserving biodiversity hotspots in a changing climate

Impacts of Climate Change on Vegetation Distribution No. 2 - Climate Change Induced Vegetation Shifts in the New World

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