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Steinbauer MJ, Grytnes JA, Jurasinski G, Kulonen A, Lenoir J, Pauli H, Rixen C, Winkler M, Bardy-Durchhalter M, Barni E, Bjorkman AD, Breiner FT, Burg S, Czortek P, Dawes MA, Delimat A, Dullinger S, Erschbamer B, Felde VA, Fernández-Arberas O, Fossheim KF, Gómez-García D, Georges D, Grindrud ET, Haider S, Haugum SV, Henriksen H, Herreros MJ, Jaroszewicz B, Jaroszynska F, Kanka R, Kapfer J, Klanderud K, Kühn I, Lamprecht A, Matteodo M, di Cella UM, Normand S, Odland A, Olsen SL, Palacio S, Petey M, Piscová V, Sedlakova B, Steinbauer K, Stöckli V, Svenning JC, Teppa G, Theurillat JP, Vittoz P, Woodin SJ, Zimmermann NE, Wipf S. Accelerated increase in plant species richness on mountain summits is linked to warming. Nature 2018; 556:231-234. [PMID: 29618821 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0005-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 248] [Impact Index Per Article: 41.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2017] [Accepted: 02/20/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Globally accelerating trends in societal development and human environmental impacts since the mid-twentieth century 1-7 are known as the Great Acceleration and have been discussed as a key indicator of the onset of the Anthropocene epoch 6 . While reports on ecological responses (for example, changes in species range or local extinctions) to the Great Acceleration are multiplying 8, 9 , it is unknown whether such biotic responses are undergoing a similar acceleration over time. This knowledge gap stems from the limited availability of time series data on biodiversity changes across large temporal and geographical extents. Here we use a dataset of repeated plant surveys from 302 mountain summits across Europe, spanning 145 years of observation, to assess the temporal trajectory of mountain biodiversity changes as a globally coherent imprint of the Anthropocene. We find a continent-wide acceleration in the rate of increase in plant species richness, with five times as much species enrichment between 2007 and 2016 as fifty years ago, between 1957 and 1966. This acceleration is strikingly synchronized with accelerated global warming and is not linked to alternative global change drivers. The accelerating increases in species richness on mountain summits across this broad spatial extent demonstrate that acceleration in climate-induced biotic change is occurring even in remote places on Earth, with potentially far-ranging consequences not only for biodiversity, but also for ecosystem functioning and services.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel J Steinbauer
- Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
- GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Department of Geography and Geosciences, Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany.
| | | | | | - Aino Kulonen
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos, Switzerland
| | - Jonathan Lenoir
- CNRS, UMR 7058 EDYSAN, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France
| | - Harald Pauli
- GLORIA Coordination, Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW-IGF), Vienna, Austria
- GLORIA Coordination, Center for Global Change and Sustainability at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU-gW/N), Vienna, Austria
| | - Christian Rixen
- WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos, Switzerland
| | - Manuela Winkler
- GLORIA Coordination, Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW-IGF), Vienna, Austria
- GLORIA Coordination, Center for Global Change and Sustainability at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU-gW/N), Vienna, Austria
| | - Manfred Bardy-Durchhalter
- GLORIA Coordination, Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW-IGF), Vienna, Austria
- GLORIA Coordination, Center for Global Change and Sustainability at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU-gW/N), Vienna, Austria
| | - Elena Barni
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Anne D Bjorkman
- Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Frank T Breiner
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Sarah Burg
- WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos, Switzerland
| | - Patryk Czortek
- Białowiez˙ a Geobotanical Station, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Białowiez˙ a, Poland
| | - Melissa A Dawes
- WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos, Switzerland
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Anna Delimat
- W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Poland
| | - Stefan Dullinger
- Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Vivian A Felde
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | | | - Kjetil F Fossheim
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | | | - Damien Georges
- Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France
| | - Erlend T Grindrud
- Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway
| | - Sylvia Haider
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany
| | - Siri V Haugum
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Hanne Henriksen
- Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway
| | | | - Bogdan Jaroszewicz
- Białowiez˙ a Geobotanical Station, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Białowiez˙ a, Poland
| | - Francesca Jaroszynska
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK
| | - Robert Kanka
- Institute of Landscape Ecology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Jutta Kapfer
- Department of Landscape Monitoring, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Kari Klanderud
- Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway
| | - Ingolf Kühn
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany
- Department for Community Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Halle, Germany
| | - Andrea Lamprecht
- GLORIA Coordination, Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW-IGF), Vienna, Austria
- GLORIA Coordination, Center for Global Change and Sustainability at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU-gW/N), Vienna, Austria
| | - Magali Matteodo
- WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos, Switzerland
- Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | | | - Signe Normand
- Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Arvid Odland
- Department of Natural Sciences and Environmental Health, University College of Southeast Norway, Bø, Norway
| | - Siri L Olsen
- Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Oslo, Norway
| | - Sara Palacio
- Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (IPE-CSIC), Huesca, Spain
| | - Martina Petey
- Environmental Protection Agency of Aosta Valley, Saint-Christophe, Italy
| | - Veronika Piscová
- Institute of Landscape Ecology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | | | - Klaus Steinbauer
- GLORIA Coordination, Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW-IGF), Vienna, Austria
- GLORIA Coordination, Center for Global Change and Sustainability at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU-gW/N), Vienna, Austria
| | - Veronika Stöckli
- WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos, Switzerland
- Bergwelten 21 AG, Davos Platz, Switzerland
| | - Jens-Christian Svenning
- Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Guido Teppa
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Jean-Paul Theurillat
- Centre Alpien de Phytogéographie, Fondation J.-M. Aubert, Champex-Lac, Switzerland
- Section of Biology, University of Geneva, Chambésy, Switzerland
| | - Pascal Vittoz
- Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Sarah J Woodin
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK
| | - Niklaus E Zimmermann
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Sonja Wipf
- WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos, Switzerland.
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