The Consequences of Glacier Retreat Are Uneven Between Plant Species
| Autor: | Gianalberto Losapio, Mauro Gobbi, Chiara Maffioletti, Bruno Enrico Leone Cerabolini, Marco Caccianiga, Duccio Tampucci |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences Species distribution lcsh:Evolution Biodiversity global warming 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences facilitation Effects of global warming lcsh:QH540-549.5 lcsh:QH359-425 Primary succession Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics 0105 earth and related environmental sciences 2. Zero hunger Pioneer species Extinction geography.geographical_feature_category Ecology Plant community Glacier glacier forelands 15. Life on land humanities Geography biodiversity change 13. Climate action community dynamic plant networks competition hierarchical modeling lcsh:Ecology |
| Zdroj: | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Vol 8 (2021) |
| ISSN: | 2296-701X |
| DOI: | 10.3389/fevo.2020.616562 |
| Popis: | Glaciers are retreating worldwide, exposing new terrain to colonization by plants. Recently-deglaciated terrains have been a subject of ecological studies for a long time, as they represent a unique natural model system for examining the effects of global warming associated with glacier retreat on biodiversity and the spatio-temporal dynamic of communities. However, we still have a limited understanding of how physical and biotic factors interactively influence species persistence and community dynamics after glacier retreat and glacier extinction. Using hierarchical joint species distribution models, we integrated data on plant species occurrence at fine spatial scale, spatio-temporal context, environmental conditions, leaf traits, and species-to-species associations in plant communities spanning 0 to c 5,000 years on average after glacier retreat. Our results show that plant diversity initially increases with glacier retreat, but ultimately decreases after glacier extinction. The 22% of plant species non-linearly respond to glacier retreat and will locally disappear with glacier extinction. At the local scale, soil carbon enrichment and reduction of physical (topographic) disturbance positively contribute to distribution patterns in 66% of the species, indicating a strong impact of community-level environmental conditions. Furthermore, positive and negative associations among species play a relevant role (up to 34% of variance) in driving the spatio-temporal dynamic of plant communities. Global warming prompts a shift from facilitation to competition: positive associations prevail among pioneer species, whereas negative associations are relatively more common among late species. This pattern suggests a role of facilitation for enhancing plant diversity in recently ice-free terrains and of competition for decreasing species persistence in late stages. Associated to that, species persisting the most show more “conservative” traits than species of concern. In summary, although plant diversity initially increases with glacier retreat, more than a fifth of plant species are substantially declining and will disappear with glacier extinction. Even for the “winners,” the “victory” is not to be taken for granted due to the negative impact of rising competition. Integrating survey data with hierarchical and network models can help to forecast biodiversity change and anticipate cascading effects of glacier retreat on mountain ecosystems. These effects include the reduction of ecosystem services and benefits to humans, including food production from the pioneer species Artemisia genipi. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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