Prefaces Acknowledgements 1. Mountains and their climatological study 2. Geographical controls of mountain meteorological elements 3. Circulation systems related to orography 4. Climatic characteristics of mountains 5. Regional case studies 6. Mountain bioclimatology 7. Changes in mountain climates Appendix General index Author index.

Mountain Weather and Climate

Most ecological processes now show responses to anthropogenic climate change. In terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems, species are changing genetically, physiologically, morphologically, and phenologically and are shifting their distributions, which affects food webs and results in new interactions. Disruptions scale from the gene to the ecosystem and have documented consequences for people, including unpredictable fisheries and crop yields, loss of genetic diversity in wild crop varieties, and increasing impacts of pests and diseases. In addition to the more easily observed changes, such as shifts in flowering phenology, we argue that many hidden dynamics, such as genetic changes, are also taking place. Understanding shifts in ecological processes can guide human adaptation strategies. In addition to reducing greenhouse gases, climate action and policy must therefore focus equally on strategies that safeguard biodiversity and ecosystems.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/354/6313/aaf7671.full.pdf

The broad footprint of climate change from genes to biomes to people

Temperature is increasing at unprecedented rates across most of the tundra biome(1). Remote-sensing data indicate that contemporary climate warming has already resulted in increased productivity ov ...

https://www.fs.fed.us/global/iitf/pubs/ja_iitf_2012_elmendorf002.pdf

Plot-scale evidence of tundra vegetation change and links to recent summer warming.

Poleward and upward shifts are the most frequent types of range shifts that have been reported in response to contemporary climate change. However, the number of reports documenting other types of range shifts – such as in east-west directions across longitudes or, even more unexpectedly, towards tropical latitudes and lower elevations – is increasing rapidly. Recent studies show that these range shifts may not be so unexpected once the local climate changes are accounted for. We here provide an updated synthesis of the fast-moving research on climate-related range shifts. By describing the current state of the art on geographical patterns of species range shifts under contemporary climate change for plants and animals across both terrestrial and marine ecosystems, we identified a number of research shortfalls. In addition to the recognised geographic shortfall in the tropics, we found taxonomic and methodological shortfalls with knowledge gaps regarding range shifts of prokaryotes, lowland range shifts of terrestrial plants, and bathymetric range shifts of marine plants. Based on this review, we provide a research agenda for filling these gaps. We outline a comprehensive framework for assessing multidimensional changes in species distributions, which should then be contrasted with expectations based on climate change indices, such as velocity measures accounting for complex local climate changes. Finally, we propose a unified classification of geographical patterns of species range shifts, arranged in a bi-dimensional space defined by species’ persistence and movement rates. Placing the observed and expected shifts into this bi-dimensional space should lead to more informed assessments of extinction risks.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/ecog.00967

Climate-related range shifts – a global multidimensional synthesis and new research directions

In mountainous regions, climate warming is expected to shift species' ranges to higher altitudes. Evidence for such shifts is still mostly from revisitations of historical sites. We present recent (2001 to 2008) changes in vascular plant species richness observed in a standardized monitoring network across Europe's major mountain ranges. Species have moved upslope on average. However, these shifts had opposite effects on the summit floras' species richness in boreal-temperate mountain regions (+3.9 species on average) and Mediterranean mountain regions (-1.4 species), probably because recent climatic trends have decreased the availability of water in the European south. Because Mediterranean mountains are particularly rich in endemic species, a continuation of these trends might shrink the European mountain flora, despite an average increase in summit species richness across the region.

https://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/50439/1/Villar_Benito-Science2012.pdf

Recent Plant Diversity Changes on Europe’s Mountain Summits

Climate impact studies have indicated ecological fingerprints of recent global warming across a wide range of habitats1, 2. Although these studies have shown responses from various local case studies, a coherent large-scale account on temperature-driven changes of biotic communities has been lacking3, 4. Here we use 867 vegetation samples above the treeline from 60 summit sites in all major European mountain systems to show that ongoing climate change gradually transforms mountain plant communities. We provide evidence that the more cold-adapted species decline and the more warm-adapted species increase, a process described here as thermophilization. At the scale of individual mountains this general trend may not be apparent, but at the larger, continental scale we observed a significantly higher abundance of thermophilic species in 2008, compared with 2001. Thermophilization of mountain plant communities mirrors the degree of recent warming and is more pronounced in areas where the temperature increase has been higher. In view of the projected climate change5, 6 the observed transformation suggests a progressive decline of cold mountain habitats and their biota.

/pdf/continent-wide-response-of-mountain-vegetation-to-climate-1cjepyho9d.pdf

Continent-wide response of mountain vegetation to climate change

Abstract Ďugova O., Barančokova M., Krajči J., Barančok P.: Soil micromycetes and vegetation changes associated with vegetative cover destruction on chosen localities of Tatry Mountains - first approach. Ekologia (Bratislava), Vol. 32, No. 2, p. 158-172, 2013. Species composition of soil micromycetes and vegetation and its changes associated with vegetative cover destruction were observed in four localities of Tatry Mts. Three research plots with different extent of vegetation destruction on each locality were subjectively chosen: control plots with almost no destruction of vegetation and soil cover (C), partially disturbed plots (B) and plots with high level of soil cover destruction where cover of herb layer was less than 20% (A). Plant species composition of control plots was characterised by the highest level of taxonomical diversity, highest cover of herb and moss layer and represented by alpine herb and grass communities on siliceous bedrock (Juncion trifidi alliance) and alpine and subalpine plant communities on calcareous bedrock (Seslerion tatrae alliance). Devastation of soil and vegetation on B and A plots was performed particularly by decreasing of herb layer cover and changes in species composition: species as Vaccinium myrtillus, Vaccinium vitis-idaea and Calluna vulgaris were absent, whereas Poa alpina, Potentilla aurea, Agrostis rupestris or Avenella flexuosa occurred on devastated plots often. From investigated soils 43 species of soil micromycetes were identified. Control plot of each locality was represented by the highest taxonomical diversity of soil micromycetes. The number of species significantly decreased on plots with successive destruction of vegetation cover (B and A). Several species were identified in just one case (Penicillium digitatum (pers.:Fr.) Sacc., Chrysosporium keratinophilum D.Frey ex J.W. Carmich. etc.). The outcomes showed that soil microorganisms as well as vascular plants react on destruction of soil cover very sensitively.

Ján Krajči

Papers

Continent-wide response of mountain vegetation to climate change

Soil micromycetes and vegetation changes associated with vegetative cover destruction on chosen localities of tatry mountains - first approach