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Vegetation dynamics at the upper elevational limit of vascular plants in Himalaya
A rapid warming in Himalayas is predicted to increase plant upper distributional limits, vegetation cover and abundance of species adapted to warmer climate. We explored these predictions in NW Himalayas, by revisiting uppermost plant populations after ten years (2003–2013), detailed monitoring of v...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Nature Publishing Group
2016
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4855180/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27143226 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep24881 |
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author | Dolezal, Jiri Dvorsky, Miroslav Kopecky, Martin Liancourt, Pierre Hiiesalu, Inga Macek, Martin Altman, Jan Chlumska, Zuzana Rehakova, Klara Capkova, Katerina Borovec, Jakub Mudrak, Ondrej Wild, Jan Schweingruber, Fritz |
author_facet | Dolezal, Jiri Dvorsky, Miroslav Kopecky, Martin Liancourt, Pierre Hiiesalu, Inga Macek, Martin Altman, Jan Chlumska, Zuzana Rehakova, Klara Capkova, Katerina Borovec, Jakub Mudrak, Ondrej Wild, Jan Schweingruber, Fritz |
author_sort | Dolezal, Jiri |
collection | PubMed |
description | A rapid warming in Himalayas is predicted to increase plant upper distributional limits, vegetation cover and abundance of species adapted to warmer climate. We explored these predictions in NW Himalayas, by revisiting uppermost plant populations after ten years (2003–2013), detailed monitoring of vegetation changes in permanent plots (2009–2012), and age analysis of plants growing from 5500 to 6150 m. Plant traits and microclimate variables were recorded to explain observed vegetation changes. The elevation limits of several species shifted up to 6150 m, about 150 vertical meters above the limit of continuous plant distribution. The plant age analysis corroborated the hypothesis of warming-driven uphill migration. However, the impact of warming interacts with increasing precipitation and physical disturbance. The extreme summer snowfall event in 2010 is likely responsible for substantial decrease in plant cover in both alpine and subnival vegetation and compositional shift towards species preferring wetter habitats. Simultaneous increase in summer temperature and precipitation caused rapid snow melt and, coupled with frequent night frosts, generated multiple freeze-thaw cycles detrimental to subnival plants. Our results suggest that plant species responses to ongoing climate change will not be unidirectional upward range shifts but rather multi-dimensional, species-specific and spatially variable. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4855180 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2016 |
publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-48551802016-05-18 Vegetation dynamics at the upper elevational limit of vascular plants in Himalaya Dolezal, Jiri Dvorsky, Miroslav Kopecky, Martin Liancourt, Pierre Hiiesalu, Inga Macek, Martin Altman, Jan Chlumska, Zuzana Rehakova, Klara Capkova, Katerina Borovec, Jakub Mudrak, Ondrej Wild, Jan Schweingruber, Fritz Sci Rep Article A rapid warming in Himalayas is predicted to increase plant upper distributional limits, vegetation cover and abundance of species adapted to warmer climate. We explored these predictions in NW Himalayas, by revisiting uppermost plant populations after ten years (2003–2013), detailed monitoring of vegetation changes in permanent plots (2009–2012), and age analysis of plants growing from 5500 to 6150 m. Plant traits and microclimate variables were recorded to explain observed vegetation changes. The elevation limits of several species shifted up to 6150 m, about 150 vertical meters above the limit of continuous plant distribution. The plant age analysis corroborated the hypothesis of warming-driven uphill migration. However, the impact of warming interacts with increasing precipitation and physical disturbance. The extreme summer snowfall event in 2010 is likely responsible for substantial decrease in plant cover in both alpine and subnival vegetation and compositional shift towards species preferring wetter habitats. Simultaneous increase in summer temperature and precipitation caused rapid snow melt and, coupled with frequent night frosts, generated multiple freeze-thaw cycles detrimental to subnival plants. Our results suggest that plant species responses to ongoing climate change will not be unidirectional upward range shifts but rather multi-dimensional, species-specific and spatially variable. Nature Publishing Group 2016-05-04 /pmc/articles/PMC4855180/ /pubmed/27143226 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep24881 Text en Copyright © 2016, Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
spellingShingle | Article Dolezal, Jiri Dvorsky, Miroslav Kopecky, Martin Liancourt, Pierre Hiiesalu, Inga Macek, Martin Altman, Jan Chlumska, Zuzana Rehakova, Klara Capkova, Katerina Borovec, Jakub Mudrak, Ondrej Wild, Jan Schweingruber, Fritz Vegetation dynamics at the upper elevational limit of vascular plants in Himalaya |
title | Vegetation dynamics at the upper elevational limit of vascular plants in Himalaya |
title_full | Vegetation dynamics at the upper elevational limit of vascular plants in Himalaya |
title_fullStr | Vegetation dynamics at the upper elevational limit of vascular plants in Himalaya |
title_full_unstemmed | Vegetation dynamics at the upper elevational limit of vascular plants in Himalaya |
title_short | Vegetation dynamics at the upper elevational limit of vascular plants in Himalaya |
title_sort | vegetation dynamics at the upper elevational limit of vascular plants in himalaya |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4855180/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27143226 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep24881 |
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