Responses of lichen communities to 18 years of natural and experimental warming.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Climate change is expected to have major impacts on high alpine and arctic ecosystems in the future, but empirical data on the impact of long-term warming on lichen diversity and richness are sparse. This study report the effects of 18 years of ambient and experimental warming on lichens and vascular plant cover in two alpine plant communities, a dry heath with sparse canopy cover (54 %) and a mesic meadow with a more developed (67 %) canopy cover, in sub-arctic Sweden.

Methods

The effects of long-term passive experimental warming using open top chambers (OTCs) on lichens and total vascular plant cover, and the impact of plant cover on lichen community parameters, were analysed.

Key results

Between 1993 and 2013, mean annual temperature increased a

SUBMITTER: Alatalo JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5737088 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature