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Warm range margin of boreal bryophytes and lichens not directly limited by temperatures
- Source :
- Journal of Ecology, Journal of Ecology, 2021, 109 (10), pp.3724-3736. ⟨10.1111/1365-2745.13750⟩, Journal of Ecology, Wiley, 2021, 109 (10), pp.3724-3736. ⟨10.1111/1365-2745.13750⟩, idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla, instname
- Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- Species at their warm range margin are potentially threatened by higher temperatures, but may persist in microrefugia. Whether such microsites occur due to more suitable microclimate or due to lower biotic pressure from, for example competitive species, is still not fully resolved. We examined whether boreal bryophytes and lichens show signs of direct climate limitation, that is whether they perform better in cold and/or humid microclimates at their warm range margin. We transplanted a moss, a liverwort and a lichen to 58 boreal forest sites with different microclimates at the species' southern range margin in central Sweden. Species were grown in garden soil patches to control the effects of competitive exclusion and soil quality. We followed the transplanted species over three growing seasons (2016–2018) and modelled growth and vitality for each species as a function of subcanopy temperature, soil moisture, air humidity and forest type. In 2018, we also recorded the cover of other plants having recolonized the garden soil patches and modelled this potential future competition with the same environmental variables plus litter. Species performance increased with warmer temperatures, which was often conditional on high soil moisture, and at sites with more conifers. Soil moisture had a positive effect, especially on the moss in the last year 2018, when the growing season was exceptionally hot and dry. The lichen was mostly affected by gastropod grazing. Recolonization of other plants was also faster at warmer and moister sites. The results indicate that competition, herbivory, shading leaf litter and water scarcity might be more important than the direct effects of temperature for performance at the species' warm range margin. Synthesis. In a transplant experiment with three boreal understorey species, we did not find signs of direct temperature limitation towards the south. Forest microrefugia, that is habitats where these species could persist regional warming, may instead be sites with fewer competitors and enemies, and with sufficient moisture and more conifers in the overstorey. Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 2014-00530
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Range (biology)
Species distribution
Microclimate
Biotic interactions
Plant Science
Atmospheric sciences
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
biotic interactions
Margin (machine learning)
Plant–climate interactions
MICROCLIMATE
PLANTS
Herbivory
MICROREFUGIA
plant-climate interactions
transplant experiment
Lichen
Water content
Rear edge
Transplant experiment
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Herbivore
CLIMATE-CHANGE
Ecology
herbivory
REFUGIA
rear edge
SPECIES DISTRIBUTIONS
15. Life on land
FOREST
Boreal
EDGE
1181 Ecology, evolutionary biology
Environmental science
species distribution
BIODIVERSITY
Soil moisture
[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology
soil moisture
RESPONSES
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20140053, 00220477, and 13652745
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of Ecology, Journal of Ecology, 2021, 109 (10), pp.3724-3736. ⟨10.1111/1365-2745.13750⟩, Journal of Ecology, Wiley, 2021, 109 (10), pp.3724-3736. ⟨10.1111/1365-2745.13750⟩, idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla, instname
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....b0a3e61413c81e5370b9a31b5d9339f6