Can functional traits of alpine plants explain their distribution and the impact of climate change?
Abstract
Human‐induced temperature increase has amplified during the past decades particularly at high elevations, whereas changes in precipitation patterns have been regionally more variable. Although alpine plants are long‐lived and persistent against both exceptionally warm and cold weather, they are sensitive to warmer conditions and drought over longer periods. The international monitoring network GLORIA has established permanent plots in mountains, enabling comparisons of species distribution and vegetation composition and their changes since the beginning of the century. To better understand the species’ response to the environment and to environmental changes, this project focuses on plant functional traits on GLORIA summits, that are related to the performance of plants and their response to environmental factors and also provide a link between species richness and functional diversity. For 2022 we aim to characterize c.60 species from Hochschwab, representing > 80% of the cover by vascular plants in GLORIA-plots. We will measure more traits than most comparable studies (there have been few on alpine plants) including “hard” traits with clear adaptive significance, and already sampled and tested for 57 species on the GLORIA site Schrankogel in 2021. We will not only examine differences in species adaptions, but also between different mountain ranges with different climatic and geologic conditions. Plant functional traits, combined with precise monitoring data, are a powerful basis for assessing directional, climate‐induced losses in biodiversity and ecosystem services and are important for adjustments of conservation strategies under accelerating climate change.
Charaktermerkmale bei Pflanzen Alpen Beobachtungsprogramm GLORIA Gebirgsbiodiversität Klimawandel
Publikationen
Mitarbeiter*innen
Peter Hietz
Univ.Prof. Mag.rer.nat. Dr.rer.nat. Peter Hietz
peter.hietz@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-83110
BOKU Projektleiter*in
29.03.2022 - 31.01.2024
Andrea Lamprecht
MMag. Dr. Andrea Lamprecht
andrea.lamprecht@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-83161
BOKU Projektleiter*in
01.03.2022 - 28.03.2022