TY - JOUR
T1 - Using plant functional traits to explain community composition across a strong environmental filter in Australian alpine snowpatches
AU - Venn, Susanna
AU - Green, Ken
AU - Pickering, Catherine
AU - Morgan, John W
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Environmental filters act to limit the local community assemblage from the regional species pool by restricting the viable trait states that can occur there. In alpine snowpatches, the timing of snowmelt is a strong environmental filter. In coming decades, the strength of this filter is likely to relax with global climate change. We used three continuous plant functional traits (leaf area, plant height, seed mass) and their divergence (using the FDvar index) to document current patterns of community assembly and predict plant community responses to future environmental filters in alpine snowpatch vegetation. The community trait-weighted mean for leaf area and height, but not seed mass, was significantly higher in early snowmelt zones relative to mid and late melting zones across all snowpatches. Mean FDvar for height (but not leaf area or seed mass), by contrast, was substantially lower in early snowmelt zones, indicating that species growing in early melt zones are consistently taller than those growing in other zones. These results suggest that if climate change leads to earlier snowmelt and hence, a longer growing season, taller (more competitive) species with larger leaf areas (more productive) may replace short species in snowpatches as these plant communities re-assemble in response to changing environmental filters.
AB - Environmental filters act to limit the local community assemblage from the regional species pool by restricting the viable trait states that can occur there. In alpine snowpatches, the timing of snowmelt is a strong environmental filter. In coming decades, the strength of this filter is likely to relax with global climate change. We used three continuous plant functional traits (leaf area, plant height, seed mass) and their divergence (using the FDvar index) to document current patterns of community assembly and predict plant community responses to future environmental filters in alpine snowpatch vegetation. The community trait-weighted mean for leaf area and height, but not seed mass, was significantly higher in early snowmelt zones relative to mid and late melting zones across all snowpatches. Mean FDvar for height (but not leaf area or seed mass), by contrast, was substantially lower in early snowmelt zones, indicating that species growing in early melt zones are consistently taller than those growing in other zones. These results suggest that if climate change leads to earlier snowmelt and hence, a longer growing season, taller (more competitive) species with larger leaf areas (more productive) may replace short species in snowpatches as these plant communities re-assemble in response to changing environmental filters.
KW - Australia
KW - Climate change
KW - Community assembly
KW - Declining snow cover
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85027943012&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11258-011-9923-1
DO - 10.1007/s11258-011-9923-1
M3 - Article
SN - 1385-0237
VL - 212
SP - 1491
EP - 1499
JO - Plant Ecology
JF - Plant Ecology
IS - 9
ER -