Aim
Alpine ecosystems differ in area, macroenvironment and biogeographical history across the Earth, but the relationship between these factors and plant species richness is still unexplored. Here, ...we assess the global patterns of plant species richness in alpine ecosystems and their association with environmental, geographical and historical factors at regional and community scales.
Location
Global.
Time period
Data collected between 1923 and 2019.
Major taxa studied
Vascular plants.
Methods
We used a dataset representative of global alpine vegetation, consisting of 8,928 plots sampled within 26 ecoregions and six biogeographical realms, to estimate regional richness using sample‐based rarefaction and extrapolation. Then, we evaluated latitudinal patterns of regional and community richness with generalized additive models. Using environmental, geographical and historical predictors from global raster layers, we modelled regional and community richness in a mixed‐effect modelling framework.
Results
The latitudinal pattern of regional richness peaked around the equator and at mid‐latitudes, in response to current and past alpine area, isolation and the variation in soil pH among regions. At the community level, species richness peaked at mid‐latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, despite a considerable within‐region variation. Community richness was related to macroclimate and historical predictors, with strong effects of other spatially structured factors.
Main conclusions
In contrast to the well‐known latitudinal diversity gradient, the alpine plant species richness of some temperate regions in Eurasia was comparable to that of hyperdiverse tropical ecosystems, such as the páramo. The species richness of these putative hotspot regions is explained mainly by the extent of alpine area and their glacial history, whereas community richness depends on local environmental factors. Our results highlight hotspots of species richness at mid‐latitudes, indicating that the diversity of alpine plants is linked to regional idiosyncrasies and to the historical prevalence of alpine ecosystems, rather than current macroclimatic gradients.
Invasive plants generally align with the fast side of the plant's trait economics spectrum, characterized by fast nutrient acquisition, growth and reproduction. However, there are numerous and ...notable exceptions, including woody invasives.
The generalization that invasives are fast is driven by the high occurrence of invasive ruderal species colonizing nutrient‐rich disturbed habitats, a consequence of anthropogenic disturbance usually going hand‐in‐hand with biological introductions.
Successful invasive plans have shown a remarkable ability to rapidly adapt to the new regions where they are introduced. These changes predominantly involve increased resource acquisition, growth and reproduction, aligning them even further with the fast side of the plant economics spectrum.
Common garden experiments with invasive model systems provide valuable insights about the speed and direction of adaptive responses to different climates, helping us to predict general plant responses to global change.
Synthesis. Invasive plant species commonly present fast nutrient acquisition, growth and reproduction, but this general pattern is mostly driven by ruderal species. Still, common garden experiments comparing populations from distant world regions show a clear trend for already fast invasive plants to rapidly adapt towards even faster traits in their non‐native regions.
Resumen
Las plantas invasoras se encuentran generalmente alineadas con el lado rápido del espectro económico de rasgos de las plantas, caracterizado por una adquisición de nutrientes, crecimiento, y reproducción rápidas. Sin embargo, existen numerosas y notables excepciones, incluyendo las plantas leñosas invasoras.
La generalización de que las plantas invasoras son rápidas se debe principalmente a la alta incidencia de plantas invasoras ruderales, que habitualmente invaden hábitats perturbados y ricos en nutrientes. Este hecho es el resultado lógico de que las perturbaciones antropogénicas y las introducciones biológicas a menudo se acompañan las unas a las otras.
Las plantas invasoras exitosas muestran una habilidad notable para adaptarse a las condiciones ambientales con las que se encuentran en las nuevas regiones en las que son introducidas. Estos cambios incluyen, predominantemente, aumentos en la capacidad de adquirir recursos, de crecer, y de reproducirse, alineándolas aún más con el lado rápido del espectro económico de rasgos de las plantas.
Experimentos desarrollados en condiciones de jardín común con plantas invasoras modelo, nos desvelan información importante sobre cómo y a que velocidad las plantas pueden adaptarse a climas diferentes. Esto nos permite usar a las plantas invasoras como modelos con los que predecir cómo la generalidad de las plantas responden al cambio climático.
Sintesis. Las plantas invasoras a menudo presentan características que les permiten adquirir nutrientes, reproducirse, y crecer rápidamente, aunque este patrón general se encuentra muy influenciado por la alta frecuencia de especies invasoras ruderales. Aún así, experimentos en condiciones de jardín común, comparando poblaciones de regiones distantes del mundo, muestran una clara tendencia en la que plantas invasoras rápidas adaptan rápidamente sus rasgos para ser aún más rápidas en las regiones no nativas que invaden.
Invasive plant species commonly present fast nutrient acquisition, growth and reproduction, but this general pattern is mostly driven by ruderal species. Still, common garden experiments comparing populations from distant world regions show a clear trend for already ‘fast’ invasive plants to rapidly adapt towards even ‘faster’ traits in their non‐native regions.
The names Arenaria mattfeldii, A. pallens, A. peruviana, A. pintaudii, and A. stuebelii (Caryophyllaceae, Arenarieae) from Peru and Bolivia were studied and neotypified based on specimens preserved ...at B and P.
High-altitude wetlands of the Central Andes, locally known as bofedales, provide important ecosystem services, particularly carbon storage, forage provisioning, and water regulation. Local ...communities have artificially expanded bofedales by irrigating surrounding grasslands to maximise areas for alpaca grazing. Despite their importance, biophysical processes of both natural and artificial bofedales are still poorly studied, which hinders the development of adequate management and conservation strategies. We analyse and compare the vegetation composition, hydrological variables, groundwater chemistry, and soil characteristics of a natural and an artificial bofedal of at least 10 years old in southern Peru, to understand their interrelations and the consequences for ecosystem service provisioning. We do not find statistically significant differences in the soil, water, and vegetation characteristics. Soil organic carbon (SOC) content, which we use as a proxy for carbon storage, is negatively correlated to dissolved oxygen, pH, and soil water temperature. In addition, Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling analysis shows a positive relation between plant community composition, SOC content, and water electric conductivity. Our results suggest a three-way interaction between hydrological, soil, and vegetation characteristics in the natural bofedal, which also holds for the artificial bofedal. Vegetation cover of two of the most highly nutritious species for alpaca, Lachemilla diplophylla and Lilaeopsis macloviana with 19–22% of crude protein, are weakly or not correlated to environmental variables, suggesting grazing might be obscuring these potential relationships. Given the high economic importance of alpaca breeding for local communities, expanding bofedales artificially appears an effective strategy to enhance their ecosystem services with minimal impact on the ecohydrological properties of bofedales.
Display omitted
•The expansion of bofedales by herders is a long-standing practice in the central Andes.•The natural and the artificial bofedal show similar ecohydrological properties and ecosystem services.•Soil organic carbon and soil water electric conductivity are related to plant species composition.•Highly nutritious plant species show low correlation with environmental variables due to grazing.•Artificial wetland creation enhances community livelihoods in a sustainable way.
All the names in
described from South America are investigated. Five names (
,
subsp.
var.
,
,
, and
) are lecto- or neotypified on specimens preserved at GOET, K, LP, and P. The typification of nine ...names, first proposed by Chaudhri in 1968 as the "holotype" are corrected according to Art. 9.10 of ICN. Three second-step typifications (Art. 9.17 of ICN) are proposed for
,
, and
. The following nomenclatural changes are proposed:
(basionym:
subsp.
var.
),
(Philippi non Gray; Art. 53.1 of ICN),
(basionym:
subsp.
var.
),
subsp.
(basionym:
subsp.
), and
subsp.
(basionym:
subsp.
). A new species (
) is proposed based on our examination of live plants and herbarium specimens.
subsp.
var.
is synonymized (
) with
. Finally,
subsp.
is excluded from South America since it was based on misidentified specimens (deposited at MO) of
subsp.
. A total of 30 species (43 taxa including subspecies, varieties, subvarieties, and forms) are recognized, highlighting that for some (
,
,
) we provisionally accept Chaudhri's infraspecific classification, since the high phenotypic variability of these taxa is quite complicated and further investigations need to solve their taxonomy.
Range‐expansion and speciation are not new to life on Earth, but they have been scarcely observed contemporarily and, likely, never over several continents simultaneously. Evidence of incipient ...reproductive isolation between native and non‐native regions of some invasive alien species indicates that invasive speciation is closer than we expected. Some neo‐allopatric populations are likely to qualify as distinguishable subspecies already. Given their trajectory, whether they will become new species is not an if, but a when. I present two decision tables to help to (1) assess the coining of new invasive species or subspecies with the current taxonomical approach or (2), introduce the term “neo” to name invasive neo‐species resulting from synchronous allopatric speciation from a single, known, living ancestor. This latter case can be exemplified with the hypothetical names: “Ginkgo biloba neo americana”, “G. biloba neo europea”, etc.
Invasive plants are known for their impacts to ecosystems and societies, but their potential cultural use tend to be unexplored. One important mechanism of plant invasion is the use of ..."allelochemicals" or "novel weapons": chemical defenses which are new to their invaded habitats and that confer them competitive advantages. However, these chemicals are precisely what confers them ethnobotanical and medicinal properties. We reviewed the literature assessing the biogeography of the cultural uses of the model invasive plant yellow-starthistle (
L.; Asteraceae), and assessed the extent to which the introduction of a weed native to Eurasia into several non-native world regions was paralleled by the spread of cultural uses from its native range. We found that the species was rich in pharmaceutically active compounds and that the species had been traditionally used for medicinal purposes, as raw material, and as food. However, ethnobotanical uses were reported almost exclusively in its native range, with no uses described for the non-native range, apart from honey production in California, Argentina, and Australia. Our study exemplifies how, when plant introductions are not paralleled synchronously by significant human migrations, cultural adoption can be extremely slow, even within the native range of the species. Invasive species can provide real-time insights into the cultural processes by which humans learn to use plants. This case study highlights how biological invasions and cultural expansions can be subjected to different constraints.
Introducción: Se describe una nueva especie botánica, Senecio huaynaputinaensis. Se discute su morfología comparada con especies relacionadas. Además, se presenta una descripción del hábitat, suelo y ...se brinda un mapa de distribución.
M&M: La nueva especie aquí descrita fue encontrada durante las exploraciones realizadas entre Puquina y Quinistaquillas (departamento de Moquegua) en el año 2017. Para su identificación se comparó con materiales de herbario, de repositorios virtuales, con material fresco colectado en campo y se revisaron referencias bibliográficas sobre distribución del género Senecio en zonas áridas de la región de los Andes. La especie se ilustra mediante imágenes de lupa estereoscópica y microscopio óptico.
Resultados: Como resultado se identifica que la entidad evaluada corresponde a una nueva especie de Senecio, diferente de las ya conocidas. Se describe e ilustra una nueva especie de Compositae, Senecio huaynaputinaensis, de la región andina del sur de Perú, departamento de Moquegua, la cual se diferencia de su pariente más cercano, Senecio yurensis Rusby por la densa pubescencia que cubre la planta, la presencia de filodios en la base de las hojas, por tener capítulo, involucro y brácteas del involucro de menor longitud, presencia de tricomas en los pedicelos de las lígulas, forma oblonga del estambre, aquenios alargados con textura cubierta por tricomas engrosados, y por los vilanos de menor longitud.
Conclusión: Senecio huaynaputinaensis es una nueva especie para la ciencia, aparentemente restringida al sur de Perú.
Forest Ecological Intensification Montesinos, Daniel
Trends in plant science,
June 2019, 2019-06-00, 20190601, Letnik:
24, Številka:
6
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Ecological intensification aims to counter-balance the negative impacts of agriculture intensification by promoting management interventions that maximize ecosystem services. However, the application ...of these principles to forestry is still pending. It is time for forestry to benefit from actively researching and implementing management policies based on ecological intensification.
Soil biota can facilitate exotic plant invasions and these effects can be influenced by specific phylogenetic relationships among plant taxa. We measured the effects of sterilizing soils from ...different native plant monocultures on the growth of
Potentilla recta
, an exotic invasive forb in North America, and conducted plant-soil feedback experiments with
P. recta
, two native congeners, a close confamilial, and
Festuca idahoensis
, a native grass species. We also reanalyzed data comparing the ability of
P. recta
to invade experimentally constructed congeneric monocultures vs. monocultures of a broad suite of non-congeners. We found that monocultures as a group, other than those of the native
P. arguta
, were highly invasible by
P. recta
. In contrast, this was not the case for monocultures of
P. arguta
. In our first experiment, the biomass of
P. recta
was 50% greater when grown in soil from
F. idahoensis
monocultures compared to when it was grown in soils from
P. arguta
or
P. recta
monocultures. Sterilizing soil from
F. idahoensis
rhizospheres had no effect on the biomass of
P. recta
, but sterilizing soil from
P. arguta
and
P. recta
rhizospheres increased the biomass of
P. recta
by 108% and 90%, respectively. In a second experiment, soil trained by
F. idahoensis
resulted in a positive feedback for
P. recta
. In contrast, soils trained independently by each of the two native
Potentilla
species, or the closely related
Dasiphora
(formerly
Potentilla
) resulted in decreases in the total biomass of the invasive
P. recta
indicating strong negative feedbacks. Soil trained by
P. recta
also resulted in intraspecific negative feedbacks. Our results demonstrate substantial negative feedbacks for an invader in its nonnative range under certain conditions, and that native congeners can mount strong biotic resistance to an invader through the accumulation of deleterious soil biota.
PDF
