Temperature Microclimates of Plants in a Tropical Alpine Environment: How Much does Growth Form Matter?

Sklenář, Petr; Kučerová, Andrea; Macková, Jana; Romoleroux, Katya

doi:10.1657/aaar0014-084

Cited by 25 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 40 publications

(45 reference statements)

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“…The environmental gradient is also reflected in aspect and can be comparable to the elevation gradient in terms of temperature properties determining vegetation community (Sklenář et al, ). The highest temperature and diurnal thermal amplitude in the northern aspects, associated with high species richness, diversity and high community turnover over time, may promote the coexistence of species with wider temperature range requirements, mainly species adapted to warmer diurnal temperature, or the effect of degree days on phenology and growth (Oberbauer et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The observed trend of increasing aridity along with projected temperature increases (Urrutia & Vuille, ; Vuille et al, ) will make high mountain summits of NW Argentina too dry and warm for alpine plant specialist (cryophilic species), and therefore, they may undergo a range contraction and/or become locally extinct. Evidence for upward displacement of species and increase in community richness at high altitudes has been recorded in different mountain ranges of Europe (Dullinger et al, ; Erschbamer, Kiebacher, Mallam, & Unterluggauer, ; Grytnes et al, ; Pauli et al, ; Wipf, Stöckli, Herz, & Rixen, ), Africa (Hemp, ), and South America (Moret, Aráuz, Gobbi, & Barragán, ; Morueta‐Holme et al, ; Seimon et al, ), and also differences in species growth among summits aspects (Sklenář, Kučerová, Macková, & Romoleroux, ). Further, population decline and losses in genetic diversity due to warming driven range reduction have been observed in narrow‐range tropical alpine species (Chala et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Vegetation trends over eleven years on mountain summits in NW Argentina

Carilla

Halloy

Cuello

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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As global climate change leads to warmer and dryer conditions in the central Andes, alpine plant communities are forced to upward displacements following their climatic niche. Species range shifts are predicted to have major impacts on alpine communities by reshuffling species composition and abundances. Using a standardized protocol, we surveyed alpine plant communities in permanent plots on four high Andean summits in NW Argentina, which range from 4,040 to 4,740 m a.s.l. After a baseline survey in 2006–2008, we resurvey the same plots in 2012, and again in 2017. We found a significant decrease in plant cover, species richness, and diversity across the elevation gradient in the three censuses and a strong decrease in soil temperature along the elevation gradient. We found a high plant community turnover (37%–49%) among censuses, differentiating according to summits and aspects; major changes of community turnover were observed in the lowest summit (49%) and on the northern (47%) and western (46%) aspects. Temporal patterns in community changes were represented by increases in plant cover in the highest summit, in species richness in the lower summit, and in diversity (Shannon index) in the four summits, over time, together with increase in small herbs and non‐tussock grasses. We suggest that the observed trend in plant community dynamics responds to short‐term temperature and precipitation variability, which is influenced by El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and due to time lags in plant community response, it may take much longer than one decade for the observed trends to become stables and statistically significant. Our study provides an important foundation for documenting more profound changes in these subtropical alpine plant communities as global climate change continues.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vegetation trends over eleven years on mountain summits in NW Argentina

Carilla

Halloy

Cuello

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Since the GEA approach is a robust strategy for characterizing the genomic landscape of IBE and discovering genetic sources of adaptive variation, in this study we couple GEA with an in-depth sampling of Espeletia ecotypes across the three contrasting habitats typically observed in the Páramo, which are: the upper limit of the wet cloud forest, the well-irrigated depressions of the high valleys, and the more wind-exposed and drier slopes. Abiotic stresses such as frost and flooding are known to vary among these habitats, as well as the plant traits (e.g., plant height, pubescence, presence of aerenchyma) that likely confer adaptation to this assortment of environmental conditions (Monasterio and Sarmiento, 1991; Sklenář et al, 2010a,b, 2012, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Causes of Rapid Diversification in the Páramos: Isolation by Ecology and Genomic Divergence in Espeletia

et al. 2018

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How diversity arises and what is the relative role of allopatric and ecological divergence are among the most persistent questions in evolution and ecology. Here, we assessed whether ecological divergence has enhanced the diversification of the Neotropical alpine plant complex Espeletia, also known as frailejones. This genus has one of the highest diversification rates ever reported and is distributed in the world’s fastest evolving biodiversity hotspot, the Páramo (Neotropical alpine grasslands at elevations of c. 2800–4700 m). Our goal was to determine whether ecology plays a role in divergence within the Espeletia complex by quantifying genome-wide patterns of ecological divergence. We characterized 162 samples of the three most common and contrasting ecotypes (distinct morphotypes occupying particular habitats) co-occurring in six localities in the northern Andes using Genotyping by Sequencing. Contrasting ecotypes were caulescent cloud forest populations, caulescent populations from wind-sheltered and well-irrigated depressions and acaulescent populations from wind-exposed drier slopes. We found high polymorphism with a total of 1,273 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that defined the relationships among nine genetic clusters. We quantified allelic associations of these markers with localities and habitats using 18 different general and mixed-effects statistical models that accounted for phylogenetic distance. Despite that these models always yielded more SNPs associated with the localities, markers associated with the habitat types were recovered too. We found strong evidence for isolation-by-distance (IBD) across populations despite rampant gene flow, as expected for plant groups with limited seed dispersal. Contrasts between populations of different habitat types showed that an isolation-by-environment (IBE) trend emerged and masked the IBD signal. Maximum likelihood estimation of the number of migrants per generation (Nem) among ecotypes confirmed the IBE pattern. This result illustrates the importance of mountains’ environmental variation at a local scale in generating rapid morphological radiations and maintaining multiple adaptations in a fast-evolving ecosystem like the Páramo.

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“…Moreover, given the low probability of encountering severe freezing temperatures (below −10 °C) during the growing season in the humid tropics, selection for pronounced freezing resistance is less likely in tropical alpine plants. This is supported by data on plant tolerance of freezing measured in Venezuela, Ecuador, the Rocky Mountains (USA) and Giant Mountains (Czech Republic) (Sklenář et al 2012(Sklenář et al , 2016.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 54%

Methods for monitoring alpine plant phenology: a pilot study in the Line Creek Plateau Research Natural Area, USA

Křenová

Shelly

Chocholoušková

2019

European Journal of Environmental Sciences

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Alpine plant phenological traits are studied and several hypotheses about their latitudinal variation are tested within a comparative research project, which is being conducted on groups of plant species for which relationships are inferred from available phylogenies. The study sites for this project are located in tropical Ecuador, semitropical Bolivia and the temperate Rocky Mountains in the USA. Several temperate alpine species occur near the Rocky Mountains Field Station in Colorado and large populations of three alpine target species (Caltha leptosepala, Castilleja pulchella, Gentiana algida) were found at the Line Creek Plateau Research Natural Area, in the Beartooth Range in Montana. This location was initially investigated in August 2018 to choose the study site and test a methodology for collecting plant trait data. This study site, the target plant species and the results of a preliminary study, together with recommendations for the full season monitoring, are discussed in this paper.

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Temperature Microclimates of Plants in a Tropical Alpine Environment: How Much does Growth Form Matter?

Cited by 25 publications

References 40 publications

Vegetation trends over eleven years on mountain summits in NW Argentina

Vegetation trends over eleven years on mountain summits in NW Argentina

On the Causes of Rapid Diversification in the Páramos: Isolation by Ecology and Genomic Divergence in Espeletia

Methods for monitoring alpine plant phenology: a pilot study in the Line Creek Plateau Research Natural Area, USA

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