Side by side? Vascular plant, invertebrate, and microorganism distribution patterns along an alpine to nival elevation gradient
High mountain areas above the alpine zone are, despite the low-temperature conditions, inhabited by evolutionary and functionally differing organism groups. We compared the abundance and species richness of vascular plants, oribatid mites, springtails, spiders, and beetles, as well as bacterial and...
Published in: | Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:3efdb6a052db4fca9730e70a951f69e8 2023-05-15T14:14:29+02:00 Side by side? Vascular plant, invertebrate, and microorganism distribution patterns along an alpine to nival elevation gradient Manuela Winkler Paul Illmer Pascal Querner Barbara M. Fischer Katrin Hofmann Andrea Lamprecht Nadine Praeg Johannes Schied Klaus Steinbauer Harald Pauli 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2018.1475951 https://doaj.org/article/3efdb6a052db4fca9730e70a951f69e8 EN eng Taylor & Francis Group http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2018.1475951 https://doaj.org/toc/1523-0430 https://doaj.org/toc/1938-4246 1523-0430 1938-4246 doi:10.1080/15230430.2018.1475951 https://doaj.org/article/3efdb6a052db4fca9730e70a951f69e8 Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, Vol 50, Iss 1 (2018) alpine-nival ecotone arthropods climate change soil microorganisms vascular plants Environmental sciences GE1-350 Ecology QH540-549.5 article 2018 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2018.1475951 2022-12-31T07:37:05Z High mountain areas above the alpine zone are, despite the low-temperature conditions, inhabited by evolutionary and functionally differing organism groups. We compared the abundance and species richness of vascular plants, oribatid mites, springtails, spiders, and beetles, as well as bacterial and methanogenic archaeal prokaryotes (only abundance), at 100 m vertical intervals from 2,700–3,400 m in the Central Alps. We hypothesized that the less mobile microarthropods and microorganisms are more determined by and respond in similar ways to soil properties as do vascular plants. In contrast, we expected the more mobile surface-dwelling groups to forage also in places devoid of vegetation and thus to show patterns that deviate from that of vascular plants. Surprisingly, the observed patterns were diametrically opposed to our expectations: soil-living oribatid mites and springtails showed high individual numbers at high elevations, even where vascular plants barely occurred. Springtails also showed a rather constant species richness throughout the entire gradient. In contrast, patterns of surface-dwelling organisms and of archaeal prokaryotes did not differ significantly from vascular plants, because of either comparable climate sensitivity or their dependency on vegetated habitats. This study may serve as a baseline to estimate the risks of biodiversity losses in response to climate change across different biotic ecosystem components and to explore the potential and limitations of vascular plants as proxy for other organism groups that are far more challenging to monitor. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarctic and Alpine Research Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 50 1 e1475951 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
alpine-nival ecotone arthropods climate change soil microorganisms vascular plants Environmental sciences GE1-350 Ecology QH540-549.5 |
spellingShingle |
alpine-nival ecotone arthropods climate change soil microorganisms vascular plants Environmental sciences GE1-350 Ecology QH540-549.5 Manuela Winkler Paul Illmer Pascal Querner Barbara M. Fischer Katrin Hofmann Andrea Lamprecht Nadine Praeg Johannes Schied Klaus Steinbauer Harald Pauli Side by side? Vascular plant, invertebrate, and microorganism distribution patterns along an alpine to nival elevation gradient |
topic_facet |
alpine-nival ecotone arthropods climate change soil microorganisms vascular plants Environmental sciences GE1-350 Ecology QH540-549.5 |
description |
High mountain areas above the alpine zone are, despite the low-temperature conditions, inhabited by evolutionary and functionally differing organism groups. We compared the abundance and species richness of vascular plants, oribatid mites, springtails, spiders, and beetles, as well as bacterial and methanogenic archaeal prokaryotes (only abundance), at 100 m vertical intervals from 2,700–3,400 m in the Central Alps. We hypothesized that the less mobile microarthropods and microorganisms are more determined by and respond in similar ways to soil properties as do vascular plants. In contrast, we expected the more mobile surface-dwelling groups to forage also in places devoid of vegetation and thus to show patterns that deviate from that of vascular plants. Surprisingly, the observed patterns were diametrically opposed to our expectations: soil-living oribatid mites and springtails showed high individual numbers at high elevations, even where vascular plants barely occurred. Springtails also showed a rather constant species richness throughout the entire gradient. In contrast, patterns of surface-dwelling organisms and of archaeal prokaryotes did not differ significantly from vascular plants, because of either comparable climate sensitivity or their dependency on vegetated habitats. This study may serve as a baseline to estimate the risks of biodiversity losses in response to climate change across different biotic ecosystem components and to explore the potential and limitations of vascular plants as proxy for other organism groups that are far more challenging to monitor. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Manuela Winkler Paul Illmer Pascal Querner Barbara M. Fischer Katrin Hofmann Andrea Lamprecht Nadine Praeg Johannes Schied Klaus Steinbauer Harald Pauli |
author_facet |
Manuela Winkler Paul Illmer Pascal Querner Barbara M. Fischer Katrin Hofmann Andrea Lamprecht Nadine Praeg Johannes Schied Klaus Steinbauer Harald Pauli |
author_sort |
Manuela Winkler |
title |
Side by side? Vascular plant, invertebrate, and microorganism distribution patterns along an alpine to nival elevation gradient |
title_short |
Side by side? Vascular plant, invertebrate, and microorganism distribution patterns along an alpine to nival elevation gradient |
title_full |
Side by side? Vascular plant, invertebrate, and microorganism distribution patterns along an alpine to nival elevation gradient |
title_fullStr |
Side by side? Vascular plant, invertebrate, and microorganism distribution patterns along an alpine to nival elevation gradient |
title_full_unstemmed |
Side by side? Vascular plant, invertebrate, and microorganism distribution patterns along an alpine to nival elevation gradient |
title_sort |
side by side? vascular plant, invertebrate, and microorganism distribution patterns along an alpine to nival elevation gradient |
publisher |
Taylor & Francis Group |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2018.1475951 https://doaj.org/article/3efdb6a052db4fca9730e70a951f69e8 |
genre |
Antarctic and Alpine Research Arctic |
genre_facet |
Antarctic and Alpine Research Arctic |
op_source |
Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, Vol 50, Iss 1 (2018) |
op_relation |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2018.1475951 https://doaj.org/toc/1523-0430 https://doaj.org/toc/1938-4246 1523-0430 1938-4246 doi:10.1080/15230430.2018.1475951 https://doaj.org/article/3efdb6a052db4fca9730e70a951f69e8 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2018.1475951 |
container_title |
Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research |
container_volume |
50 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
e1475951 |
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1766286922614833152 |