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Temperature increase and frost decrease driving upslope elevational range shifts in Alpine grouse and hares.

ABSTRACT: Global climate change has led to range shifts in plants and animals, thus threatening biodiversity. Latitudinal shifts have been shown to be more pronounced than elevational shifts, implying that northern range edge margins may be more capable to keeping pace with warming than upper elevational limits. Additionally, global climate change is expected to disadvantage habitat specialists. In the Alps, climatic variation along the elevation gradient allows the coexistence of habitat specialists and generalists. Alpine species are anticipated to adapt their elevational ranges to the change of various climate variables caused by global climate change. Regional differences might buffer elevational shifts. Furthermore, distinct climate variables might differently affect the shifts of habitat specialists and generalists. To study the effect of climate change on Alpine species, we analysed hunting bag, climate and biogeographical data of two grouse species (Tetrao tetrix and Lagopus muta) and two hare species (Lepus timidus varronis and L. europaeus) in Grisons, Switzerland, over a period of 30 years. Our results based on 84,630 harvested specimens were as follows: (1) only three out of seven climate variables changed significantly within the study period. (2) The grouse species significantly shifted towards higher elevations, whereas the hare species only shifted in their minimum/maximum elevations. (3) Hunting elevation of habitat generalists increased more than in habitat specialists. (4) The elevational shifts were mostly related to the number of frost days. (5) Hunting elevation increased especially in the southern biogeographical region. To conclude, all four taxa respond to climate change but habitat generalists more rapidly than habitat specialists. The range shift to higher elevations due to global climate change will lead to a reduction in habitat availability for snow-adapted species. Climate change is thus a serious threat to alpine biodiversity. Regions rich in alpine habitats will have an increased responsibility to conserve these species.

SUBMITTER: Schai-Braun SC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9292969 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:The alpine grassland ecosystem is a biodiversity hotspot of plants on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, where rapid climate change is altering the patterns of plant biodiversity along elevational and seasonal gradients of environments. However, how belowground microbial biodiversity changes along elevational gradient during the growing season is not well understood yet. Here, we investigated the elevational distribution of soil prokaryotic communities by using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing along an elevational gradient between 3,200 and 4,200 m, and a seasonal gradient between June and September in the Qinghai-Tibetan alpine grasslands. First, we found soil prokaryotic diversity and community composition significantly shifted along the elevational gradient, mainly driven by soil temperature and moisture. Species richness did not show consistent elevational trends, while those of evenness declined with elevation. Copiotrophs and symbiotic diazotrophs declined with elevation, while oligotrophs and AOB increased, affected by temperature. Anaerobic or facultatively anaerobic bacteria and AOA were hump-shaped, mainly influenced by moisture. Second, seasonal patterns of community composition were mainly driven by aboveground biomass, precipitation, and soil temperature. The seasonal dynamics of community composition indicated that soil prokaryotic community, particularly Actinobacteria, was sensitive to short-term climate change, such as the monthly precipitation variation. At last, dispersal limitation consistently dominated the assembly process of soil prokaryotic communities along both elevational and seasonal gradients, especially for those of rare species, while the deterministic process of abundant species was relatively higher at drier sites and in drier July. The balance between deterministic and stochastic processes in abundant subcommunities might be strongly influenced by water conditions (precipitation/moisture). Our findings suggest that both elevation and season can alter the patterns of soil prokaryotic biodiversity in alpine grassland ecosystem of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, which is a biodiversity hotspot and is experiencing rapid climate change. This work provides new insights into the response of soil prokaryotic communities to changes in elevation and season, and helps us understand the temporal and spatial variations in such climate change-sensitive regions.

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Temperature increase and frost decrease driving upslope elevational range shifts in Alpine grouse and hares.

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