Think globally, measure locally: The MIREN standardized protocol for monitoring plant species distributions along elevation gradients

• Autores: Haider, Sylvia; Lembrechts, Jonas J.; McDougall, Keith; Pauchard, Aníbal; Alexander, Jake M.; Barros, Agustina; Cavieres, Lohengrin A.; Rashid, Irfan; Rew, Lisa J.; Aleksanyan, Alla; Dimarco, Romina Daniela; Seipel, Tim
• Año de publicación: 2022
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: artículo
• Fuente: Ecology and Evolution 12 (2) : e8590. (February 2022)
• Materia: Cambio Climático; Especie Invasiva; Biodiversidad; Montañas; Climate Change; Invasive Species; Biodiversity; Mountains; MIREN; Mountain Invasion Research Network
• Institución: Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria

Climate change and other global change drivers threaten plant diversity in mountains worldwide. A widely documented response to such environmental modifications is for plant species to change their elevational ranges. Range shifts are often idiosyncratic and difficult to generalize, partly due to variation in sampling methods. There is thus a need for a standardized monitoring strategy that can be applied across mountain regions to assess distribution changes and community turnover of native and non-native plant species over space and time. Here, we present a conceptually intuitive and standardized protocol developed by the Mountain Invasion Research Network (MIREN) to systematically quantify global patterns of native and non-native species distributions along elevation gradients and shifts arising from interactive effects of climate change and human disturbance. Usually repeated every five years, surveys consist of 20 sample sites located at equal elevation increments along three replicate roads per sampling region. At each site, three plots extend from the side of a mountain road into surrounding natural vegetation. The protocol has been successfully used in 18 regions worldwide from 2007 to present. Analyses of one point in time already generated some salient results, and revealed region-specific elevational patterns of native plant species richness, but a globally consistent elevational decline in non-native species richness. Non-native plants were also more abundant directly adjacent to road edges, suggesting that disturbed roadsides serve as a vector for invasions into mountains. From the upcoming analyses of time series, even more exciting results can be expected, especially about range shifts. Implementing the protocol in more mountain regions globally would help to generate a more complete picture of how global change alters species distributions. This would inform conservation policy in mountain ecosystems, where some conservation policies remain poorly implemented.
EEA Bariloche
Fil: Haider, Sylvia. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research; Alemania
Fil: Haider, Sylvia. Martin Luther University. Institute of Biology. Geobotany and Botanical Garden; Alemania
Fil: Lembrechts, Jonas Johan. University of Antwerp. Centre of Excellence Plants and Ecosystems (PLECO); Bélgica
Fil: McDougall, Keith. Department of Planning, Industry and Environment; Australia
Fil: Pauchard, Aníbal. Universidad de Concepción. Facultad de Ciencias Forestales. Laboratorio de Invasiones Biológicas; Chile
Fil: Pauchard, Aníbal. Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB); Chile
Fil: Alexander, Jake M. Institute of Integrative Biology; Suiza
Fil: Barros, Agustina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico. Instituto Argentino de Nivología y Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales (IANIGLA); Argentina
Fil: Cavieres, Lohengrin A. Universidad de Concepción. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanográficas. Departamento de Botánica; Chile
Fil: Cavieres, Lohengrin A. Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB); Chile
Fil: Rashid, Irfan. University of Kashmir. Department of Botany; India
Fil: Rew, Lisa J. Montana State University. Department of Land Resource and Environmental Sciences; Estados Unidos
Fil: Aleksanyan, Alla. Institute of Botany aft. A.L. Takhtajyan NAS RA. Department of Geobotany and Plant Ecophysiology; Armenia
Fil: Aleksanyan, Alla. Armenian National Agrarian University. Chair of Biology and Biotechnologies; Armenia
Fil: Dimarco, Romina Daniela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche. Grupo de Ecología de Poblaciones de Insectos; Argentina
Fil: Dimarco, Romina Daniela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche. Grupo de Ecología de Poblaciones de Insectos; Argentina
Fil: Dimarco, Romina Daniela. University of Houston. Department of Biology and Biochemistry; Estados Unidos
Fil: Seipel, Tim. Montana State University. Department of Land Resource and Environmental Sciences; Estados Unidos