Range dynamics of mountain plants decrease with elevation.

Abstract: Species range limits are expected to be dramatically altered under future climate change and many species are predicted to shift their distribution upslope to track their suitable conditions (i.e. based on their niche). However, there might be large discrepancies between the speed of the upward shift of the climatic niche and the actual migration velocity of the species, especially in long‐lived organisms such as trees. In fact, most studies did not find any significant upward shift of the distributional limits of temperate forest trees over the last decades. It therefore beckons the questions why trees are moving upslope much slower than their bioclimatic envelope and what are the implications for ecosystem functioning. Here, we compared the simulations of the upslope displacement of the bioclimatic envelope of 16 tree species inhabiting temperate mountain forests under ongoing and future climate change obtained by correlative species distribution models (SDMs) to those from a dynamic forest model accounting for dispersal, competition and demography. We then partitioned the discrepancy in upslope migration velocity between the SDMs and the dynamic forest model into different components by manipulating dispersal limitation, interspecific competition and demography. Tree species in the dynamic forest model migrated only slowly upslope in contrast to the SDMs. Most of the difference in migration velocity can directly be attributed to tree's demography (long life cycle), followed by effects of competition and only a marginal contribution of dispersal limitation. Additionally, lower elevation species (‘non‐treeline’) shifted slower upslope than high elevation species (‘treeline’) indicating a strong effect of interspecific competition at their leading edge. Synthesis. Forests have a high inertia to climate change because of their longevity and ability to acclimatize to high climatic fluctuations. Lower elevation tree species (deciduous) only slowly establish in stands at higher elevation where coniferous species dominate and likely profit from facilitation by disturbance events. Therefore, forest ecosystems seem to persist, even if climate becomes unfavourable, until they approach a tipping point at which an extreme event (e.g. drought, storm or insect attack) leads to a large dieback and resource change enabling new suitable species to spread and establish.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated plant species shifts in alpine tundra within the Changbai Mountains over the last three decades by comparing contemporary survey results with historical ones and evaluated potential changes in the distribution of dwarf shrub and herbaceous species over the next three decades (2016-2045) using a combination of observations and simulations.

TL;DR: Climate change induces elevational shifts in tree community composition in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, with 58% of communities showing no migration trend, 27% migrating upwards, and 15% downwards, influenced by thermal limitations and biotic interactions.

TL;DR: A diagnostic fingerprint of temporal and spatial ‘sign-switching’ responses uniquely predicted by twentieth century climate trends is defined and generates ‘very high confidence’ (as laid down by the IPCC) that climate change is already affecting living systems.

TL;DR: A meta-analysis shows that species are shifting their distributions in response to climate change at an accelerating rate, and that the range shift of each species depends on multiple internal species traits and external drivers of change.

TL;DR: In this article, a taxonomic index (genera) of alpine plants is presented, with a brief review of water relations and water relations of alpin plants in the alpine life zone.

TL;DR: There are two categories of environmental changes with altitude: those physically tied to meters above sea level, such as atmospheric pressure, temperature and clear-sky turbidity; and those that are not generally altitude specific, suchAs moisture, hours of sunshine, wind, season length, geology and even human land use.