Summer aridity rather than management shapes fitness-related functional traits of the threatened mountain plant Arnica montana.

ABSTRACT: Semi-natural mountain grasslands are increasingly exposed to environmental stress under climate change. However, which are the environmental factors that limit plants in these grasslands? Also, is the present management effective against these changes? Fitness-related functional traits may offer a way to detect changes in performance and provide new insights into their vulnerability to climate change. We investigated changes in performance and variability of functional traits of the mountain grassland target species Arnica montana along a climate gradient in Central German low mountain ranges. This gradient represents at its lower end climate conditions that are expected at its upper end under future climate change. We measured vegetative, generative, and physiological traits to acc

SUBMITTER: Stanik N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7297756 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature