Trends in Population Size of Rare Plant Species in the Alpine Habitats of the Ukrainian Carpathians under Climate Change

Abstract

Population trends in rare alpine plant species in the high-mountain zone of the Ukrainian Carpathians are described with regard to the types of habitats where they occur. Populations of cold-adapted species confined to snowbeds, alpine screes, poorly vegetated rocks, and the highest ridges, as well as mires and springs, are very vulnerable to climate change, while their habitats tend to shrink. The direct impact of warming affects mainly the most cryophilic species. Another driver of changes is climate-induced succession that results in denser vegetation cover and encroachment of more thermophilic plants, which replace low-competitive rare alpine species. Their replacement is largely caused by the loss of open microsites suitable for seed recruitment. However, the climate-driven decrease of snow cover often leads to frost damage to vegetation that provides gaps appropriate for the establishment of many rare species. One of the groups of species that benefit from warming includes rather thermophilic tall herbs that are more common in the subalpine zone but have been actively spreading at higher altitudes lately.

Changes in Snowbed Vegetation in the Western Carpathians Under Changing Climatic Conditions and Land Use in the Last Decades

“…It promotes migration of eurytopic species from the lower altitudes (Vittoz et al, 2008;Britton et al, 2009;Engler et al, 2011;Palaj, Kollár, 2018). This leads to vegetation homogenization, because expansion of new species upward is accompanied by disappearing of stenotopic species (Jurasinski, Kreyling, 2007;Britton et al, 2009;Erschbamer et al, 2011;Ross et al, 2012;Carbognani et al, 2014;Kobiv, 2018).…”

Bili Skeli limestone cliffs as an important hotspot of plant diversity in the Chyvchyny Mountains (Ukrainian Carpathians)

“…For instance, Saussurea discolor, regarded in the mountains of Central Europe as primarily a high-mountain species [9], is confined to the montane forest belt on the Bili Skeli cliffs. This also applies to Saxifraga aizoides [16,29] of which the possible extinction at the site is in line with the decline of the other high-mountain species at the lower limit of their distribution in the Ukrainian Carpathians [17,18]. The Bili Skeli cliffs are also the lowermost habitat of Saxifraga aizoides in Ukraine [28].…”

A new find of Arabidopsis neglecta (Brassicaceae) in the Svydovets Massif (Ukrainian Carpathians)

“…In the Chornohora, one monitored population of A. neglecta at Mt. Brebeneskul has been gradually shrinking during a 15-year period (Kobiv, 2018), rendering the discovery of a new population valuable. The unprotected populations from Mt.…”

“…For the Ukrainian Carpathians, it has been considered as "Vulnerable" (VU) and "Data Deficient" (DD) by Malinovski et al (2002), or even as "Endangered" (EN) by Kricsfalusy and Budnikov (2007), but has not been included later in the 3 rd edition of the Red Data Book of Ukraine (Chervona knyha…, 2009). As pointed out by Kobiv (2011Kobiv ( , 2017Kobiv ( , 2018, this perennial, short-lived glareophyte is definitely a rare and threatened mountain species of the Ukrainian Carpathians where it occurs in the following mountain ranges: Chornohora, Svydovets, Marmarosh, and Chyvchyny Mts. (Kotov, 1953;Malinovski et al, 2002;Bedei, 2006;Chopyk, Fedoronchuk, 2015;Novikoff, Hurdu, 2015).…”