Living on the edge: Plant diversity in the Iberian chionophilous vegetation
Abstract Aims Chionophilous vegetation (i.e. snowbed vegetation and chionophilous grasslands) hosts relict arctic–alpine species, among which snowbed specialists, that find their southernmost limit in the Iberian Peninsula, where they are especially threatened by climate change. Our aims were to ide...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12701 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/avsc.12701 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/avsc.12701 |
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crwiley:10.1111/avsc.12701 2024-06-02T08:02:43+00:00 Living on the edge: Plant diversity in the Iberian chionophilous vegetation Illa, Estela Pérez‐Haase, Aaron Brufau, Rainer Font, Xavier 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12701 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/avsc.12701 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/avsc.12701 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Applied Vegetation Science volume 25, issue 4 ISSN 1402-2001 1654-109X journal-article 2022 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12701 2024-05-03T10:51:04Z Abstract Aims Chionophilous vegetation (i.e. snowbed vegetation and chionophilous grasslands) hosts relict arctic–alpine species, among which snowbed specialists, that find their southernmost limit in the Iberian Peninsula, where they are especially threatened by climate change. Our aims were to identify the main Iberian chionophilous vegetation groups, and analyse their plant diversity patterns and their role as refugia for snowbed glacial relicts, as well as that of Iberian high‐mountain regions. Location Iberian high mountains. Methods We used the beta‐flexible clustering method to classify 1002 vegetation relevés of Iberian chionophilous vegetation, and computed species Indicator Values and frequencies for the resulting groups. We performed a Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) ordination of the relevés, and fitted six climatic variables to reveal the main ecological gradients. We constructed rarefaction curves to compare species richness between vegetation groups and between mountain regions. Results We obtained eight vegetation groups, four consisting of snowbed vegetation and four of chionophilous grasslands. All but one group were present in the Pyrenees, where snowbed specialist richness was the highest. In southern and central Iberian ranges, snowbed vegetation was extremely scarce, and the main vegetation group corresponded to cryoromediterranean grasslands, where both species and specialist richness were the lowest. Snowbed and northern Iberian grassland groups accounted for similar high specialist richness, although specialists were infrequent and scarce at relevé level in these grasslands. Conclusions Despite the set of specialised species that thrive in snowbeds, many of them are also present but scarce in northern Iberian chionophilous grasslands. In a future scenario with a high reduction of snow cover duration, which may entail the disappearance of many snowbed vegetation patches, northern Iberian chionophilous grasslands may act as terminal refugia for snowbed specialists. Nevertheless, ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change Wiley Online Library Arctic Applied Vegetation Science 25 4 |
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English |
description |
Abstract Aims Chionophilous vegetation (i.e. snowbed vegetation and chionophilous grasslands) hosts relict arctic–alpine species, among which snowbed specialists, that find their southernmost limit in the Iberian Peninsula, where they are especially threatened by climate change. Our aims were to identify the main Iberian chionophilous vegetation groups, and analyse their plant diversity patterns and their role as refugia for snowbed glacial relicts, as well as that of Iberian high‐mountain regions. Location Iberian high mountains. Methods We used the beta‐flexible clustering method to classify 1002 vegetation relevés of Iberian chionophilous vegetation, and computed species Indicator Values and frequencies for the resulting groups. We performed a Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) ordination of the relevés, and fitted six climatic variables to reveal the main ecological gradients. We constructed rarefaction curves to compare species richness between vegetation groups and between mountain regions. Results We obtained eight vegetation groups, four consisting of snowbed vegetation and four of chionophilous grasslands. All but one group were present in the Pyrenees, where snowbed specialist richness was the highest. In southern and central Iberian ranges, snowbed vegetation was extremely scarce, and the main vegetation group corresponded to cryoromediterranean grasslands, where both species and specialist richness were the lowest. Snowbed and northern Iberian grassland groups accounted for similar high specialist richness, although specialists were infrequent and scarce at relevé level in these grasslands. Conclusions Despite the set of specialised species that thrive in snowbeds, many of them are also present but scarce in northern Iberian chionophilous grasslands. In a future scenario with a high reduction of snow cover duration, which may entail the disappearance of many snowbed vegetation patches, northern Iberian chionophilous grasslands may act as terminal refugia for snowbed specialists. Nevertheless, ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Illa, Estela Pérez‐Haase, Aaron Brufau, Rainer Font, Xavier |
spellingShingle |
Illa, Estela Pérez‐Haase, Aaron Brufau, Rainer Font, Xavier Living on the edge: Plant diversity in the Iberian chionophilous vegetation |
author_facet |
Illa, Estela Pérez‐Haase, Aaron Brufau, Rainer Font, Xavier |
author_sort |
Illa, Estela |
title |
Living on the edge: Plant diversity in the Iberian chionophilous vegetation |
title_short |
Living on the edge: Plant diversity in the Iberian chionophilous vegetation |
title_full |
Living on the edge: Plant diversity in the Iberian chionophilous vegetation |
title_fullStr |
Living on the edge: Plant diversity in the Iberian chionophilous vegetation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Living on the edge: Plant diversity in the Iberian chionophilous vegetation |
title_sort |
living on the edge: plant diversity in the iberian chionophilous vegetation |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12701 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/avsc.12701 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/avsc.12701 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Climate change |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change |
op_source |
Applied Vegetation Science volume 25, issue 4 ISSN 1402-2001 1654-109X |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12701 |
container_title |
Applied Vegetation Science |
container_volume |
25 |
container_issue |
4 |
_version_ |
1800747195821981696 |