Vegetation shifts in mountains

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Table of contents

I. General Introduction
A. What are the changes in the environment that promote changes in vegetation?
1. Eutrophication and acidification due to atmospheric deposition
2. Species loss from habitat fragmentation
3. Forest colonisation after agricultural abandonment and its consequences on vegetation
4. Herbivory
5. Land use legacy
6. Forest management and forest dynamics
B. Climatic change
1. Expected responses of species and biomes
2. Particular case of mountains
C. Knowledge on observed vegetation shifts related to climate warming
1. Observed species shifts in mountain areas
a. Extension at the upper limit of species distribution
b. Treeline and ecotones
c. Retraction at lower limits of species distribution
d. Shift of the species distribution optimum
e. Changes in community composition
2. Which phenomena influencing species distribution could interact with climate warming
D. Where and how to detect vegetation changes and species migration? General methodology
1. Different approaches
a. Different methodologies
b. Which part of species range to observe?
c. Different spatial scales
d. Different temporal scales
e. Different habitats
2. Description of the thesis chapters
E. References
II. Shift of mountain vegetation in forests of the Southern Alps: climate or land-use change?
A. Abstract
B. Introduction
1. Objectives of the study
C. Material and Methods
1. Study area
2. Vegetation dataset
3. Data analyses
a. Estimation of species shifts
b. Species shifts and plant traits
c. Species shifts and successional dynamics
D. Results
1. Estimation of species shifts
2. Species shifts and plant traits
3. Species shifts and successional dynamics
E. Discussion
1. Causes of the observed shift
2. Forest closing, ageing and maturation
3. Lag between vegetation shift and climate warming
F. Conclusion
References
H. Annex of the chapter two
III. Long term changes in plant communities of the Maurienne valley, French Alps
A. Introduction
B. Material and Methods
1. Study area
2. Sampling protocol
a. Historical data
b. Re-sampling
3. Data analyses
a. Species selection
b. Vegetation indicators
c. Plot ordination
d. Testing for changes in vegetation between the two inventories
e. Development of forest structure from 1985 to 2000
C. Results
1. Abiotic models of vegetation indicators
a. Ellenberg indicator values
b. Landolt indicator values
c. Consistency of vegetation indicators: correlation between Ellenberg and Landolt values
d. Ordination results
2. Vegetation changes between the two inventories
a. Shift in mean Ellenberg and Landolt indicator values
b. Shift in the position along the correspondence analysis axes
c. Changes in stand dendrometric characteristics
D. Discussion
1. Response to climate change
2. Changes in soil characteristics and nitrogen atmospheric deposition
3. Forest development and structure
4. Sampling bias
E. Conclusion
F. References
G. Annex of the chapter three
IV. Plant species’ range shifts in mountainous areas – all uphill from here?
A. Abstract
B. Introduction
C. Material & Methods
1. Shifts at the upper range margin
2. Shifts at the lower range margin
3. Comparing range shifts at the lower and upper limit of the same species
D. Results
1. Shifts at the upper range margins of species reaching the summit areas
2. Shifts of the upper range margins along the upper slopes of Piz Languard (3000 – 3262 m a.s.l.)
3. Shifts at the lower range margin
4. Shifts at opposite range margins of the same species
E. Discussion
F. Zusammenfassung
G. References
V. One century of vegetation change on Isla Persa, a nunatak in the Bernina massif in the Swiss Alps
A. Abstract
B. Introduction
C. Study area
3 D. Methods
1. Field plant inventories
2. Analyses
E. Results
F. Discussion
1. Data reliability
2. Biodiversity increase and climate change
3. Biological traits
4. Importance of the biodiversity increase
G. References
H. Annex of the chapter five
IV. General Discussion
A. What conclusions can be drawn by connecting the different studies results?
1. A spatially varied response to climate change
2. Responses to land-use change and other anthropogenic pressures
3. Advantages and drawbacks of different methods: sampling bias, spatial scale and sampling intensity
B. General conclusions
C. References
Annexes