Different temporal trends in vascular plant and bryophyte communities along elevational gradients over four decades
Abstract Despite many studies showing biodiversity responses to warming, the generality of such responses across taxonomic groups remains unclear. Very few studies have tested for evidence of bryophyte community responses to warming, even though bryophytes are major contributors to diversity and fun...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2022-08-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Evolution |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9102 |
| _version_ | 1828722556566241280 |
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| author | Antoine Becker‐Scarpitta Diane Auberson‐Lavoie Raphael Aussenac Mark Vellend |
| author_facet | Antoine Becker‐Scarpitta Diane Auberson‐Lavoie Raphael Aussenac Mark Vellend |
| author_sort | Antoine Becker‐Scarpitta |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Despite many studies showing biodiversity responses to warming, the generality of such responses across taxonomic groups remains unclear. Very few studies have tested for evidence of bryophyte community responses to warming, even though bryophytes are major contributors to diversity and functioning in many ecosystems. Here, we report an empirical study comparing long‐term change in bryophyte and vascular plant communities in two sites with contrasting long‐term warming trends, using “legacy” botanical records as a baseline for comparison with contemporary resurveys. We hypothesized that ecological changes would be greater in sites with a stronger warming trend and that vascular plant communities, with narrower climatic niches, would be more sensitive than bryophyte communities to climate warming. For each taxonomic group in each site, we quantified the magnitude of changes in species' distributions along the elevation gradient, species richness, and community composition. We found contrasted temporal changes in bryophyte vs. vascular plant communities, which only partially supported the warming hypothesis. In the area with a stronger warming trend, we found a significant increase in local diversity and dissimilarity (β‐diversity) for vascular plants, but not for bryophytes. Presence–absence data did not provide sufficient power to detect elevational shifts in species distributions. The patterns observed for bryophytes are in accordance with recent literature showing that local diversity can remain unchanged despite strong changes in composition. Regardless of whether one taxon is systematically more or less sensitive to environmental change than another, our results suggest that vascular plants cannot be used as a surrogate for bryophytes in terms of predicting the nature and magnitude of responses to warming. Thus, to assess overall biodiversity responses to global change, abundance data from different taxonomic groups and different community properties need to be synthesized. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T05:41:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d1798b9adf9e4f57afe17ad62271930f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-7758 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T05:41:28Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj.art-d1798b9adf9e4f57afe17ad62271930f2022-12-22T03:45:39ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582022-08-01128n/an/a10.1002/ece3.9102Different temporal trends in vascular plant and bryophyte communities along elevational gradients over four decadesAntoine Becker‐Scarpitta0Diane Auberson‐Lavoie1Raphael Aussenac2Mark Vellend3Département de Biologie, Faculté des Sciences Université de Sherbrooke Sherbrooke Québec CanadaDépartement de Biologie, Faculté des Sciences Université de Sherbrooke Sherbrooke Québec CanadaUniv. Grenoble Alpes INRAE, LESSEM St‐Martin d'Hères FranceDépartement de Biologie, Faculté des Sciences Université de Sherbrooke Sherbrooke Québec CanadaAbstract Despite many studies showing biodiversity responses to warming, the generality of such responses across taxonomic groups remains unclear. Very few studies have tested for evidence of bryophyte community responses to warming, even though bryophytes are major contributors to diversity and functioning in many ecosystems. Here, we report an empirical study comparing long‐term change in bryophyte and vascular plant communities in two sites with contrasting long‐term warming trends, using “legacy” botanical records as a baseline for comparison with contemporary resurveys. We hypothesized that ecological changes would be greater in sites with a stronger warming trend and that vascular plant communities, with narrower climatic niches, would be more sensitive than bryophyte communities to climate warming. For each taxonomic group in each site, we quantified the magnitude of changes in species' distributions along the elevation gradient, species richness, and community composition. We found contrasted temporal changes in bryophyte vs. vascular plant communities, which only partially supported the warming hypothesis. In the area with a stronger warming trend, we found a significant increase in local diversity and dissimilarity (β‐diversity) for vascular plants, but not for bryophytes. Presence–absence data did not provide sufficient power to detect elevational shifts in species distributions. The patterns observed for bryophytes are in accordance with recent literature showing that local diversity can remain unchanged despite strong changes in composition. Regardless of whether one taxon is systematically more or less sensitive to environmental change than another, our results suggest that vascular plants cannot be used as a surrogate for bryophytes in terms of predicting the nature and magnitude of responses to warming. Thus, to assess overall biodiversity responses to global change, abundance data from different taxonomic groups and different community properties need to be synthesized.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9102biodiversitybryophyteCommunity ecologyelevational gradientforestglobal change ecology |
| spellingShingle | Antoine Becker‐Scarpitta Diane Auberson‐Lavoie Raphael Aussenac Mark Vellend Different temporal trends in vascular plant and bryophyte communities along elevational gradients over four decades Ecology and Evolution biodiversity bryophyte Community ecology elevational gradient forest global change ecology |
| title | Different temporal trends in vascular plant and bryophyte communities along elevational gradients over four decades |
| title_full | Different temporal trends in vascular plant and bryophyte communities along elevational gradients over four decades |
| title_fullStr | Different temporal trends in vascular plant and bryophyte communities along elevational gradients over four decades |
| title_full_unstemmed | Different temporal trends in vascular plant and bryophyte communities along elevational gradients over four decades |
| title_short | Different temporal trends in vascular plant and bryophyte communities along elevational gradients over four decades |
| title_sort | different temporal trends in vascular plant and bryophyte communities along elevational gradients over four decades |
| topic | biodiversity bryophyte Community ecology elevational gradient forest global change ecology |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9102 |
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