Large- and small-scale environmental factors drive distributions of cool-adapted plants in karstic microrefugia.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Dolines are small- to large-sized bowl-shaped depressions of karst surfaces. They may constitute important microrefugia, as thermal inversion often maintains cooler conditions within them. This study aimed to identify the effects of large- (macroclimate) and small-scale (slope aspect and vegetation type) environmental factors on cool-adapted plants in karst dolines of East-Central Europe. We also evaluated the potential of these dolines to be microrefugia that mitigate the effects of climate change on cool-adapted plants in both forest and grassland ecosystems.

Methods

We compared surveys of plant species composition that were made between 2007 and 2015 in 21 dolines distributed across four mountain ranges (sites) in Hungary and Romania. We examined the e

SUBMITTER: Batori Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5321062 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature