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Short-term signals of climate change along an altitudinal gradient in the South Alps

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Abstract

Short-term changes in plant species number, frequency and composition were studied along an altitudinal gradient crossing four summits from the treeline ecotone to the subnival zone in the South Alps (Dolomites, Italy). Large-scale (summit areas) and small-scale patterns (16 plots of 1 m²/summit) were monitored. After 5 years, a re-visitation of the summit areas revealed a considerable increase of species richness at the upper alpine and subnival zone (10% and 9%, respectively) and relatively modest increases at the lower alpine zone and the treeline ecotone (3% and 1%, respectively). At the small scale, the results were partly different, with species richness decreasing at the lower summits and increasing at the higher summits. The changes can most likely be attributed to climate warming effects and to competitive interactions. The main newcomers at the lower three summits were species from the treeline and the lower altitudinal zones. Only at the highest summit, the newcomers came from the alpine species pool. At the treeline ecotone, the abundance of Pinus cembra, of dwarf shrubs and clonal graminoid species increased. Here, displacements of alpine species may be predicted for the near future. At the higher summits, expansions of the established alpine species and further invasions of species from lower altitudes are forecasted.

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Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported by the GLORIA-EU project no EVK2-CT-2000-00056 (2001-2003), the Abteilung Forstwirtschaft der Autonomen Provinz Bozen-Südtirol (2006) and the Tiroler Wissenschaftsfonds (2006). We would like to thank Georg Grabherr and the GLORIA co-ordination group for project supervision and database handling. We are grateful to one anonymous reviewer for highly valuable comments, to Eckart Winkler for statistical advice and to Harald Pauli and Michael Gottfried for their comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. Special thanks to Michael Hess for linguistic corrections.

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  1. Institute of Botany, University of Innsbruck, Sternwartestr. 15, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria

    Brigitta Erschbamer, Thomas Kiebacher, Martin Mallaun & Peter Unterluggauer

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  1. Brigitta Erschbamer
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Erschbamer, B., Kiebacher, T., Mallaun, M. et al. Short-term signals of climate change along an altitudinal gradient in the South Alps. Plant Ecol 202, 79–89 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-008-9556-1

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