INIBIOMA   20415
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES EN BIODIVERSIDAD Y MEDIOAMBIENTE
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Rock outcrops from North Patagonia, potential biodiversity refugia under climate change.
Autor/es:
SPEZIALE, K. L.; EZCURRA, C.
Revista:
PLANT ECOLOGY & DIVERSITY
Editorial:
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
Referencias:
Lugar: Londres; Año: 2015 vol. 8 p. 353 - 361
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.
The degree of ?stability? of these refugia will depend on the degree of future change in climate. 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.
Keywords: climate change; microclimate; refugia; rock outcrops; species composition