Plant landscape climatic optima correlate with their continental range optima

• Aim Factors determining species’ distributions at smaller scales may inform us about larger scale distributions, and vice versa. We predicted that landscape and continental climatic optima for plants are positively correlated, and that species that have their optima outside a given focal landscape will cluster at the warmest or coldest landscape patches. Also, we predicted that the correlations of temperature optima are stronger for vascular plants than for bryophytes, since bryophytes may be regulated also by air moisture.LocationÅngermanland, Sweden (landscape scale); Europe (continental scale).MethodsWe derived landscape optima from fine-grained temperature models (50 m) and species inventories, and continental optima from MaxEnt niche modelling based on GBIF occurrences and Worldclim temperatures (c. 1000 m), for 96 bryophytes and 50 vascular plants. Optima were derived for growing degree days, and maximum and minimum temperature.ResultsThe landscape and continental optima of all species were positively correlated for growing degree days and maximum temperature (r = 0.19 and r = 0.44), but not for minimum temperature (r = -0.010). Species with their continental optima outside the focal landscape did not clearly cluster in the most extreme parts of the landscape. For vascular plants the correlation was positive for both growing degree days and maximum temperature (r = 0.50 and r = 0.64), but for bryophytes only for maximum temperature (r = 0.34).Main conclusionsThe optima correlations for maximum temperature and growing degree days indicate that we can infer large scale distribution patterns of plants from their local scale distributions, and suggest in which environments species occur if we only know their continental scale optima. The lack of clustering of southern and northern species limits the possibility for conservation actions targeting microrefugia. Lastly, the correlations indicate that the distributions of vascular plants were more influenced by temperature than bryophytes.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Ekologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Ecology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

bryophytes

climatic optima

distribution

microclimate

landscape scale

continental scale

vascular plants

Plant Ecology

växtekologi

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

ovr (subject category)