Vegetation dynamics at the upper elevational limit of vascular plants in Himalaya

Doležal, Jiří; Dvorský, Miroslav; Kopecký, Martin; Liancourt, Pierre; Hiiesalu, Inga; Macek, Martin; Altman, Jan; Chlumská, Zuzana; Řeháková, Klára; Čapková, Kateřina; Borovec, Jakub; Mudrák, Ondřej; Wild, Jan; Schweingruber, Fritz Hans

doi:10.1038/srep24881

Cited by 113 publications

(121 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Our finding is generally in line with the study from the western Himalayan region, which documented multidimensional and species‐specific responses of plant species to climate change (Dolezal et al. ). These changes were likely due to the interactions between climate‐driven impacts with increasing precipitation and physical disturbance.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Downhill shift of alpine plant assemblages under contemporary climate and land‐use changes

2018

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Compositional changes in Himalayan vegetation in response to the major drivers of biodiversity loss, climate change and land‐use change, are barely documented. We quantify temporal changes in the alpine vegetation of central Nepal and attribute these changes to temporally varying climatic and land‐use factors. We re‐surveyed the alpine vegetation of two locations within Langtang National Park, central Nepal, after 25 yr using 127 plots of 100 m2. Using ordination, regression, and weighted average regression and calibration techniques, we analyzed the changes in terms of species abundance, frequency, and elevational shift in relation to changing atmospheric temperature, precipitation, and livestock grazing. We found a significant increase in the frequency and relative abundance of the majority of species, which was significantly related to the temporal trends in climatic factors and grazing intensity. Out of 12 species with unimodal responses along the elevation gradient during both surveys, the optima of eight species decreased over the time period. The observed elevations of 62 out of 92 sample plots (hence, species composition) in 2014 were lower than the elevations calibrated from species composition and elevation of 1990, indicating an overall downward shift of species assemblages. However, an upward shift of assemblages was also observed at higher elevations. These results indicate that the observed temporal changes in alpine vegetation, largely contrasting the expected upslope shift of species due to climate warming, are driven most likely by interactions of contemporary climate and land‐use changes, especially reduced grazing. The complex interactions and feedback mechanisms between warmer winters, increased precipitation, reduced grazing pressure, and thereby altered species interactions most likely facilitated the downslope shift of alpine species assemblages. Climatic and land‐use responses of plant species assemblages should therefore be studied focusing on the potential interactions between both the climatic and the land‐use factors because such interactions and feedback mechanisms have potential to mask or modify the expected climatic or land‐use response of biodiversity.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Downhill shift of alpine plant assemblages under contemporary climate and land‐use changes

2018

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“…Hence, periodic bad years associated with irregular recruitment and a greater likelihood of extinction events may be decisive for the dynamics of marginal populations, causing ‐ in the long run ‐ the asymmetric pattern of distribution. Extreme climatic events during sensitive life stages or vulnerable phenologic phases should, therefore, be considered decisive factors setting species range limits (Kollas et al ., ; Doležal et al ., ). The strong limitation by low temperatures found in our study is in agreement with Butterfield (), who reported increasing environmental filtering at the cold end of the climatic gradient, with frost having the strongest effect.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Niche asymmetry of vascular plants increases with elevation

Dvorský

Macek

Kopecký

et al. 2017

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim Species distributions along an environmental gradient are often not symmetric but skewed towards one end of the gradient. Various explanations for this skewness have been proposed but the patterns of niche asymmetry along extensive environmental gradients have been rarely explored. In this study, we tested three predictions of asymmetric abiotic stress limitation (AASL) hypothesis that predicts a steeper decrease in the probability of occurrence towards the more stressful end of a plant distributional range. Location Ladakh, arid Himalayas, where drought stress dominates in the lower elevation, whilst the cold stress dominates in the upper elevations. Methods Using data from 4062 plots (2640–6150 m a.s.l.), we explored the shapes of response curves of 395 vascular plant species through Huisman‐Olff‐Fresco models. We compared the observed patterns of niche asymmetry along the elevational gradient with null models. Results Species with symmetric response curves (61.5%) prevailed at lower elevations, whilst species with left‐skewed responses (36.2%) were significantly underrepresented up to 3750 m a.s.l. and occurred significantly more frequently at 5150–5450 m a.s.l. Right‐skewed responses were rare (2.3%) along the whole gradient. The steepness of the response increased with elevation. Response types were found in similar proportions across different habitats and functional groups. Main conclusions Our results support the predictions of AASL hypothesis for cold limits, but not for dry limits. The low proportion of right‐skewed responses over the entire gradient suggests an effective adaptation of the local flora to arid conditions, or sufficient opportunity to avoid drought stress through the presence of favourable habitat patches. The accumulation of skewed responses at high elevations likely reflects shared physiological limits of many steppe species, whose distribution abruptly ends at the transition between steppe and alpine zones. Cold, therefore, represents a stronger barrier to species distribution than drought.

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“…hourly measurements) or another type of approach (e.g. relative water content of leaves) that could have shown higher significance of water stress over tundra vegetation (Buckland et al , Dolezal et al ). Thus, our findings call for incorporating temporally comprehensive measurements over the growing season for capturing the entire spectrum of water conditions of extreme stress to stable conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water as a resource, stress and disturbance shaping tundra vegetation

Kemppinen

Niittynen

Aalto

et al. 2019

Oikos

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Water is crucial for plant productivity and survival as a fundamental resource, but water conditions can also cause physiological stress and mechanical disturbance to vegetation. However, these different influences of water on vegetation patterns have not been evaluated simultaneously. Here, we demonstrate the importance of three water aspects (spatial and temporal variation of soil moisture and fluvial disturbance) for three ecologically and evolutionary distinct taxonomical groups (vascular plants, mosses and lichens) in Fennoscandian mountain tundra. Fine‐scale plant occurrence data for 271 species were collected from 378 × 1 m2 plots sampled over broad environmental gradients (water, temperature, radiation, soil pH, cryogenic processes and the dominant allelopathic plant species). While controlling all other key environmental variables, water in its different aspects proved to be a crucial environmental driver, acting on individual species and on community characteristics. The inclusion of the water variables significantly improved our models. In this high‐latitude system, the importance of spatial variability of water exceeds the importance of temperature for the fine‐scale distribution of species from the three taxonomical groups. We found differing responses to the three water variables between and within the taxonomical groups. Water as a resource was the most important water‐related variable in species distribution models across all taxonomical groups. Both water resource and disturbance were strongly related to vascular plant species richness, whereas for moss species richness, water resources had the highest influence. For lichen species richness, water disturbance was the most influential water‐related variable. These findings demonstrate that water variables are not only independent properties of tundra hydrology, but also that water is truly a multifaceted driver of vegetation patterns at high‐latitudes.

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Vegetation dynamics at the upper elevational limit of vascular plants in Himalaya

Cited by 113 publications

References 54 publications

Downhill shift of alpine plant assemblages under contemporary climate and land‐use changes

Downhill shift of alpine plant assemblages under contemporary climate and land‐use changes

Niche asymmetry of vascular plants increases with elevation

Water as a resource, stress and disturbance shaping tundra vegetation

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