Recent plant diversity changes on Europe's mountain summits

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Pauli, Harald; Gottfried, Michael; Dullinger, Stefan; Abdaladze, Otari; Akhalkatsi, Maia; Alonso, José Luis Benito; Coldea, Gheorghe; Dick, Jan; Erschbamer, Brigitta; Calzado, Rosa Fernández; Ghosn, Dany; Holten, Jarle I.; Kanka, Robert; Kazakis, George; Kollar, Jozef; Larsson, Per; Moiseev, Pavel; Moiseev, Dmitry; Molau, Ulf; Mesa, Joaquín Molero; Nagy, Laszlo; Pelino, Giovanni; Puscas, Mihai; Rossi, Graziano; Stanisci, Angela; Syverhuset, Anne O.; Theurillat, Jean-Paul; Tomaselli, Marcello; Unterluggauer, Peter; Villar, Luis; Vittoz, Pascal; Grabherr, Georg. 2012 Recent plant diversity changes on Europe's mountain summits. Science, 336 (6079). 353-355. 10.1126/science.1219033

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1219033

Abstract/Summary

In mountainous regions, climate warming is expected to shift species’ ranges to higher altitudes. Evidence for such shifts is still mostly from revisitations of historical sites. We present recent (2001 to 2008) changes in vascular plant species richness observed in a standardized monitoring network across Europe’s major mountain ranges. Species have moved upslope on average. However, these shifts had opposite effects on the summit floras’ species richness in boreal-temperate mountain regions (+3.9 species on average) and Mediterranean mountain regions (–1.4 species), probably because recent climatic trends have decreased the availability of water in the European south. Because Mediterranean mountains are particularly rich in endemic species, a continuation of these trends might shrink the European mountain flora, despite an average increase in summit species richness across the region.

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number/DOI:	10.1126/science.1219033
Programmes:	CEH Topics & Objectives 2009 onwards > Biodiversity > BD Topic 1 - Observations, Patterns, and Predictions for Biodiversity
CEH Sections:	Watt
ISSN:	0036-8075
NORA Subject Terms:	Ecology and Environment
Related URLs:	Project Website
Date made live:	09 Nov 2012 15:48
URI:	http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/20246

Item Type:

Article

Identification Number/DOI:

10.1126/science.1219033

Programmes:

CEH Topics & Objectives 2009 onwards > Biodiversity > BD Topic 1 - Observations, Patterns, and Predictions for Biodiversity

CEH Sections:

Watt

ISSN:

0036-8075

NORA Subject Terms:

Ecology and Environment