title: Recent plant diversity changes on Europe's mountain summits.
abstract: In mountainous regions, climate warming is expected to shift species' ranges to higher altitudes. Evidence for such shifts is still mostly from revisitations of historical sites. We present recent (2001 to 2008) changes in vascular plant species richness observed in a standardized monitoring network across Europe's major mountain ranges. Species have moved upslope on average. However, these shifts had opposite effects on the summit floras' species richness in boreal-temperate mountain regions (+3.9 species on average) and Mediterranean mountain regions (-1.4 species), probably because recent climatic trends have decreased the availability of water in the European south. Because Mediterranean mountains are particularly rich in endemic species, a continuation of these trends might shrink the European mountain flora, despite an average increase in summit species richness across the region.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Mountain Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences, c/o University of Vienna, 1030 Wien, Austria.
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pauli
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gottfried
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dullinger
authors.forename: Otari
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Abdaladze
authors.forename: Maia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akhalkatsi
authors.forename: José Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Benito Alonso
authors.forename: Gheorghe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Coldea
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dick
authors.forename: Brigitta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Erschbamer
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fernández Calzado
authors.forename: Dany
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ghosn
authors.forename: Jarle I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Holten
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kanka
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kazakis
authors.forename: Jozef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kollár
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Larsson
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Moiseev
authors.forename: Dmitry
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Moiseev
authors.forename: Ulf
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Molau
authors.forename: Joaquín
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Molero Mesa
authors.forename: Laszlo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nagy
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pelino
authors.forename: Mihai
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Puşcaş
authors.forename: Graziano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stanisci
authors.forename: Anne O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Syverhuset
authors.forename: Jean-Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Theurillat
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tomaselli
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Unterluggauer
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Villar
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vittoz
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Grabherr
mesh_terms: D000531:Altitude; D044822:Biodiversity; D002980:Climate; D017753:Ecosystem; D005060:Europe; D055593:Geological Phenomena; D010944:Plants