Impact of climate change on alpine vegetation of mountain summits in Norway
Climate change is affecting the composition and functioning of ecosystems across the globe. Mountain ecosystems are particularly sensitive to climate warming since their biota is generally limited by low temperatures. Cryptogams such as lichens and bryophytes are important for the biodiversity and f...
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Springer Verlag
2017
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2492534 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-017-1472-1 |
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ftntnutrondheimi:oai:ntnuopen.ntnu.no:11250/2492534 2023-05-15T16:02:20+02:00 Impact of climate change on alpine vegetation of mountain summits in Norway Vanneste, Thomas Michelsen, Ottar Graae, Bente Jessen Kyrkjeeide, Magni Olsen Holien, Håkon Hassel, Kristian Lindmo, Sigrid Kapás, Rozália Erzsebet De Frenne, Pieter 2017 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2492534 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-017-1472-1 eng eng Springer Verlag Andre: GLORIA Europe EC/FP5 Andre: Miljødirektoratet Ecological research. 2017, 32 (4), 579-593. urn:issn:0912-3814 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2492534 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-017-1472-1 cristin:1474227 579-593 32 Ecological research 4 Klimaendringer Climate change VDP::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 VDP::Zoology and botany: 480 Journal article Peer reviewed 2017 ftntnutrondheimi https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-017-1472-1 2019-09-17T06:53:48Z Climate change is affecting the composition and functioning of ecosystems across the globe. Mountain ecosystems are particularly sensitive to climate warming since their biota is generally limited by low temperatures. Cryptogams such as lichens and bryophytes are important for the biodiversity and functioning of these ecosystems, but have not often been incorporated in vegetation resurvey studies. Hence, we lack a good understanding of how vascular plants, lichens and bryophytes respond interactively to climate warming in alpine communities. Here we quantified long-term changes in species richness, cover, composition and thermophilization (i.e. the increasing dominance of warm-adapted species) of vascular plants, lichens and bryophytes on four summits at Dovrefjell, Norway. These summits are situated along an elevational gradient from the low alpine to high alpine zone and were surveyed for all species in 2001, 2008 and 2015. During the 15-year period, a decline in lichen richness and increase in bryophyte richness was detected, whereas no change in vascular plant richness was found. Dwarf-shrub abundance progressively increased at the expense of lichens, and thermophilization was most pronounced for vascular plants, but occurred only on the lowest summits and northern aspects. Lichens showed less thermophilization and, for the bryophytes, no significant thermophilization was found. Although recent climate change may have primarily caused the observed changes in vegetation, combined effects with non-climatic factors (e.g. grazing and trampling) are likely important as well. At a larger scale, alpine vegetation shifts could have a profound impact on biosphere functioning with feedbacks to the global climate. Alpine vegetation, Climate change, Resurvey study, Thermophilization, Cryptogams acceptedVersion This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in [Ecological Research]. Locked until 5.6.2018 due to copyright restrictions. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11284-017-1472-1 Article in Journal/Newspaper Dovrefjell NTNU Open Archive (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) Dovrefjell ENVELOPE(13.500,13.500,79.000,79.000) Norway Ecological Research 32 4 579 593 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
NTNU Open Archive (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftntnutrondheimi |
language |
English |
topic |
Klimaendringer Climate change VDP::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 VDP::Zoology and botany: 480 |
spellingShingle |
Klimaendringer Climate change VDP::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 VDP::Zoology and botany: 480 Vanneste, Thomas Michelsen, Ottar Graae, Bente Jessen Kyrkjeeide, Magni Olsen Holien, Håkon Hassel, Kristian Lindmo, Sigrid Kapás, Rozália Erzsebet De Frenne, Pieter Impact of climate change on alpine vegetation of mountain summits in Norway |
topic_facet |
Klimaendringer Climate change VDP::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 VDP::Zoology and botany: 480 |
description |
Climate change is affecting the composition and functioning of ecosystems across the globe. Mountain ecosystems are particularly sensitive to climate warming since their biota is generally limited by low temperatures. Cryptogams such as lichens and bryophytes are important for the biodiversity and functioning of these ecosystems, but have not often been incorporated in vegetation resurvey studies. Hence, we lack a good understanding of how vascular plants, lichens and bryophytes respond interactively to climate warming in alpine communities. Here we quantified long-term changes in species richness, cover, composition and thermophilization (i.e. the increasing dominance of warm-adapted species) of vascular plants, lichens and bryophytes on four summits at Dovrefjell, Norway. These summits are situated along an elevational gradient from the low alpine to high alpine zone and were surveyed for all species in 2001, 2008 and 2015. During the 15-year period, a decline in lichen richness and increase in bryophyte richness was detected, whereas no change in vascular plant richness was found. Dwarf-shrub abundance progressively increased at the expense of lichens, and thermophilization was most pronounced for vascular plants, but occurred only on the lowest summits and northern aspects. Lichens showed less thermophilization and, for the bryophytes, no significant thermophilization was found. Although recent climate change may have primarily caused the observed changes in vegetation, combined effects with non-climatic factors (e.g. grazing and trampling) are likely important as well. At a larger scale, alpine vegetation shifts could have a profound impact on biosphere functioning with feedbacks to the global climate. Alpine vegetation, Climate change, Resurvey study, Thermophilization, Cryptogams acceptedVersion This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in [Ecological Research]. Locked until 5.6.2018 due to copyright restrictions. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11284-017-1472-1 |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Vanneste, Thomas Michelsen, Ottar Graae, Bente Jessen Kyrkjeeide, Magni Olsen Holien, Håkon Hassel, Kristian Lindmo, Sigrid Kapás, Rozália Erzsebet De Frenne, Pieter |
author_facet |
Vanneste, Thomas Michelsen, Ottar Graae, Bente Jessen Kyrkjeeide, Magni Olsen Holien, Håkon Hassel, Kristian Lindmo, Sigrid Kapás, Rozália Erzsebet De Frenne, Pieter |
author_sort |
Vanneste, Thomas |
title |
Impact of climate change on alpine vegetation of mountain summits in Norway |
title_short |
Impact of climate change on alpine vegetation of mountain summits in Norway |
title_full |
Impact of climate change on alpine vegetation of mountain summits in Norway |
title_fullStr |
Impact of climate change on alpine vegetation of mountain summits in Norway |
title_full_unstemmed |
Impact of climate change on alpine vegetation of mountain summits in Norway |
title_sort |
impact of climate change on alpine vegetation of mountain summits in norway |
publisher |
Springer Verlag |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2492534 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-017-1472-1 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(13.500,13.500,79.000,79.000) |
geographic |
Dovrefjell Norway |
geographic_facet |
Dovrefjell Norway |
genre |
Dovrefjell |
genre_facet |
Dovrefjell |
op_source |
579-593 32 Ecological research 4 |
op_relation |
Andre: GLORIA Europe EC/FP5 Andre: Miljødirektoratet Ecological research. 2017, 32 (4), 579-593. urn:issn:0912-3814 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2492534 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-017-1472-1 cristin:1474227 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-017-1472-1 |
container_title |
Ecological Research |
container_volume |
32 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
579 |
op_container_end_page |
593 |
_version_ |
1766397896351023104 |