INVESTIGADORES
SPEZIALE Karina Lilian
artículos
Título:
Rock outcrops as potential biodiversity refugia under climate change in North Patagonia
Autor/es:
SPEZIALE K.L.; EZCURRA C.
Revista:
PLANT ECOLOGY & DIVERSITY
Editorial:
Routledge
Referencias:
Año: 2014
ISSN:
1755-0874
Resumen:
Background: Under
climate change scenarios rock outcrops, by providing microclimatically
diverse habitats, different from those of surrounding zonal vegetation matrix, may
serve as climatic refugia and thereby facilitate the
persistence of specialist species.
Aim: We tested
whether rock outcrops of southern temperate latitudes could act as local refugia
for a cold-adapted flora in the face of global warming.
Methods: We related
species composition of 50 outcrops and that of their surrounding vegetation to
climatic data at local and regional scales to establish whether species
distributions reflected differences that could indicate the existence of
climatic refugia.
Results: While at a
regional scale, species composition of the outcrops across the study area was
related to mean annual precipitation and mean annual maximum temperature, locally,
southern faces of outcrops had different species and lower maximum temperatures
than insolated north faces and surrounding vegetation plots.
Conclusions:
South faces of outcrops by providing cool microhabitats,
and currently harbouring species not found in the surrounding zonal vegetation
matrix, could serve as local refugia for heat-intolerant plants and other
microthermic organism. Therefore,
it is important to plan protected area networks that maximise local
environmental heterogeneity, including the protection of rock outcrops both as refugia
for cold-adapted species and as potential stepping stones that would allow
dispersal of these species between supportive environments through unfavourable
ones.