Vegetation trends over eleven years on mountain summits in NW Argentina.

ABSTRACT: As global climate change leads to warmer and dryer conditions in the central Andes, alpine plant communities are forced to upward displacements following their climatic niche. Species range shifts are predicted to have major impacts on alpine communities by reshuffling species composition and abundances. Using a standardized protocol, we surveyed alpine plant communities in permanent plots on four high Andean summits in NW Argentina, which range from 4,040 to 4,740 m a.s.l. After a baseline survey in 2006-2008, we resurvey the same plots in 2012, and again in 2017. We found a significant decrease in plant cover, species richness, and diversity across the elevation gradient in the three censuses and a strong decrease in soil temperature along the elevation gradient. We found a high plant co

SUBMITTER: Carilla J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6303700 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature