Disjunct populations of European vascular plant species keep the same climatic niches

• Published in: Global Ecology and Biogeography
• Main Authors: Wasof, Safaa, Lenoir, Jonathan, Roger Michel Henri, Aarrestad, Per Arild, Alsos, Inger Greve, Armbruster, W. Scott, Austrheim, Gunnar, Bakkestuen, Vegar, Birks, H. John B., Bråthen, Mari, Broennimann, Olivier, Brunet, Jorg, Bruun, Hans Henrik, Dahlberg, Carl Johan, Diekmann, Martin, Dullinger, Stefan, Dynesius, Mats, Ejrnaes, Rasmus, Gégout, Jean-Claude, J.-C., Graae, Bente Jessen, Grytnes, Arvid, Guisan, Antoine, Hylander, Kristoffer, Jonsdottir, Ingibjorg S., Kapfer, Jutta, Klanderud, Kari, Luoto, Miska, Milbau, Ann, Moora, Mari, Nygaard, Bettina, Odland, Arvid, Pauli, Harald, Ravolainen, Virve, Reinhardt, Stefanie, Sandvik, Sylvi Marlen, Schei, Fride Høistad, Speed, James D. M., Svenning, Jens-Christian, Thuiller, Wilfried, Tveraabak, Liv Unn, Vandvik, Vigdis, Velle, Liv Guri, Virtanen, Risto, Vittoz, Pascal, Willner, Wolfgang, Wohlgemuth, Thomas, Zimmermann, Niklaus E., N. E., Zobel, Martin, Decocq, Guillaume
• Other Authors: Ecologie et Dynamique des Systèmes Anthropisés - UMR CNRS 7058 UPJV (EDYSAN), Université de Picardie Jules Verne (UPJV)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), National Centre for Biosystematics Oslo, Natural History Museum Oslo, University of Oslo (UiO)-University of Oslo (UiO), University of Portsmouth, University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim (NTNU), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), University of Bergen (UiB), The Arctic University of Norway Tromsø, Norway (UiT), Department of Ecology & Evolution, Université de Lausanne = University of Lausanne (UNIL), Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences = Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet (SLU), IT University of Copenhagen (ITU), Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences Stockholm, Stockholm University, University of Bremen, Universität Wien = University of Vienna, Department of Ecology and Environmental Science Umeå, Umeå University = Umeå Universitet, Aarhus University Aarhus, Laboratoire d'Etudes des Ressources Forêt-Bois (LERFoB), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-AgroParisTech, Laboratoire de Biologie de la Conservation (LBC), University of Iceland Reykjavik, Norsk institutt for bioøkonomi=Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO), Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Helsingin yliopisto = Helsingfors universitet = University of Helsinki, University of Tartu, Telemark University College, Norwegian Polar Institute, University of Agder (UIA), Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine (LECA), Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Nesna University College, Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research (Bioforsk), Dept Biol, University of Oulu, Département d'écologie et évolution, Université de Lausanne = University of Lausanne (UNIL)-Université de Lausanne = University of Lausanne (UNIL), Vienna Institute for Nature Conservation and Analyses (VINCA), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (ETH Zürich), Institute of Botany and Ecology
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2015
• Subjects: species distribution modelling; niche width; niche overlap; niche optimum; niche conservatism; climatic niche; distant populations; Alpine plants; arctic plants; disjunct distribution; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; Arctic; Fennoscandia
• Online Access: https://agroparistech.hal.science/hal-01599162; https://agroparistech.hal.science/hal-01599162v1/document; https://agroparistech.hal.science/hal-01599162v1/file/Wasof-2015-Disjunct_populations_of_European_vascular-%2528accepted_version%2529.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12375

International audience Aim Previous research on how climatic niches vary across species ranges has focused on a limited number of species, mostly invasive, and has not, to date, been very conclusive. Here we assess the degree of niche conservatism between distant populations of native alpine plant species that have been separated for thousands of years. Location European Alps and Fennoscandia. Methods Of the studied pool of 888 terrestrial vascular plant species occurring in both the Alps and Fennoscandia, we used two complementary approaches to test and quantify climatic-niche shifts for 31 species having strictly disjunct populations and 358 species having either a contiguous or a patchy distribution with distant populations. First, we used species distribution modelling to test for a region effect on each species' climatic niche. Second, we quantified niche overlap and shifts in niche width (i.e. ecological amplitude) and position (i.e. ecological optimum) within a bi-dimensional climatic space. Results Only one species (3%) of the 31 species with strictly disjunct populations and 58 species (16%) of the 358 species with distant populations showed a region effect on their climatic niche. Niche overlap was higher for species with strictly disjunct populations than for species with distant populations and highest for arctic-alpine species. Climatic niches were, on average, wider and located towards warmer and wetter conditions in the Alps. Main conclusion Climatic niches seem to be generally conserved between populations that are separated between the Alps and Fennoscandia and have probably been so for 10,000-15,000 years. Therefore, the basic assumption of species distribution models that a species' climatic niche is constant in space and time-at least on time scales 104 years or less-seems to be largely valid for arctic-alpine plants.