816 results — topic: Alpine & Subalpine Ecology
An examination of synchrony between insect emergence and flowering in Rocky Mountain meadows.
One possible effect of climate change is the generation of a mismatch in the seasonal timing of interacting organisms, owing to species-specific shifts in phenology. Despite concerns that plants and pollinators might be at risk of such decoupling, there have been few attempts to test this hypothesis
Flowering phenology in subalpine meadows: Does climate variation influence community co-flowering patterns?
Climate change is expected to alter patterns of species co-occurrence, in both space and time. Species-specific shifts in reproductive phenology may alter the assemblages of plant species in flower at any given time during the growing season. Temporal overlap in the flowering periods (co-flowering)
Appendix B. Phenological shifts and phenological sensitivity to snowmelt date and summer temperature data used in analyses.
Phylogenetic relationships may underlie species-specific phenological sensitivities to abiotic variation and may help to predict these responses to climate change. Although shared evolutionary history may mediate both phenology and phenological sensitivity to abiotic variation, few studies have expl
Why are some plant—nectar robber interactions commensalisms?
Many plants that bear hidden or recessed floral nectar experience nectar robbing, the removal of nectar by a floral visitor through holes pierced in the corolla. Although robbing can reduce plant reproductive success, many studies fail to find such effects. We outline three mechanistic hypotheses th
Low predictability of energy balance traits and leaf temperature metrics in desert, montane, and alpine plant communities
Leaf energy balance may influence plant performance and community composition. While biophysical theory can link leaf energy balance to many traits and environment variables, predicting leaf temperature and key driver traits with incomplete parameterizations remains challenging. Predicting thermal o
Phenological responses to multiple environmental drivers under climate change: insights from a long-term observational study and a manipulative field experiment
Climate change has induced pronounced shifts in the reproductive phenology of plants, yet we know little about which environmental factors contribute to interspecific variation in responses and their effects on fitness. We integrate data from a 43-year record of first flowering for six species in su
Does environmental heterogeneity drive functional trait variation? A test in montane and alpine meadows
While community-weighted means of plant traits have been linked to mean environmental conditions at large scales, the drivers of trait variation within communities are not well understood. Local environmental heterogeneity (such as microclimate variability), in addition to mean environmental conditi
How do grazers affect periphyton heterogeneity in streams?
The structure of plant-pollinator interactions in montane meadow environments
The effect of climate change on the germination and growth rates of young subalpine fir (<i>Abies lasiocarpa</i>)
Effects of snowmelt timing and neighbor density on the distribution of the high altitude plant, Potentilla diversifolia
Natural selection favors rapid reproductive phenology in Potentilla pulcherrima (Rosaceae) at opposite ends of a subalpine snowmelt gradient
Predator-induced resource heterogeneity in a stream food web
Heterogeneous distributions of resources and organisms are characteristic of most ecosystems, but empirical understanding of the causes and consequences of heterogeneity is limited. We investigated whether predatory fish influenced the heterogeneity (spatial variability) of resources (algae) by modi
Dead wood biomass and turnover time, measured by radiocarbon, along a subalpine elevation gradient
Differences in biomass and decay rates along the elevation gradient suggest that climate warming will lead to a loss of dead wood carbon from subalpine forest.