TY - JOUR A1 - De Frenne, Pieter A1 - Graae, Bente J. A1 - Brunet, Jörg A1 - Shevtsova, Anna A1 - De Schrijver, An A1 - Chabrerie, Olivier A1 - Cousins, Sara A. O. A1 - Decocq, Guillaume A1 - Diekmann, Martin A1 - Hermy, Martin A1 - Heinken, Thilo A1 - Kolb, Annette A1 - Nilsson, Christer A1 - Stanton, Sharon A1 - Verheyen, Kris T1 - The response of forest plant regeneration to temperature variation along a latitudinal gradient JF - Annals of botany N2 - The response of forest herb regeneration from seed to temperature variations across latitudes was experimentally assessed in order to forecast the likely response of understorey community dynamics to climate warming. Seeds of two characteristic forest plants (Anemone nemorosa and Milium effusum) were collected in natural populations along a latitudinal gradient from northern France to northern Sweden and exposed to three temperature regimes in growth chambers (first experiment). To test the importance of local adaptation, reciprocal transplants were also made of adult individuals that originated from the same populations in three common gardens located in southern, central and northern sites along the same gradient, and the resulting seeds were germinated (second experiment). Seedling establishment was quantified by measuring the timing and percentage of seedling emergence, and seedling biomass in both experiments. Spring warming increased emergence rates and seedling growth in the early-flowering forb A. nemorosa. Seedlings of the summer-flowering grass M. effusum originating from northern populations responded more strongly in terms of biomass growth to temperature than southern populations. The above-ground biomass of the seedlings of both species decreased with increasing latitude of origin, irrespective of whether seeds were collected from natural populations or from the common gardens. The emergence percentage decreased with increasing home-away distance in seeds from the transplant experiment, suggesting that the maternal plants were locally adapted. Decreasing seedling emergence and growth were found from the centre to the northern edge of the distribution range for both species. Stronger responses to temperature variation in seedling growth of the grass M. effusum in the north may offer a way to cope with environmental change. The results further suggest that climate warming might differentially affect seedling establishment of understorey plants across their distribution range and thus alter future understorey plant dynamics. KW - Anemone nemorosa KW - climate change KW - common garden KW - growth chambers KW - latitudinal gradient KW - local adaptation KW - Milium effusum KW - plant regeneration KW - range edges KW - recruitment KW - seedling establishment KW - temperature Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcs015 SN - 0305-7364 VL - 109 IS - 5 SP - 1037 EP - 1046 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - De Frenne, Pieter A1 - Rodriguez-Sanchez, Francisco A1 - Coomes, David Anthony A1 - Bäten, Lander A1 - Versträten, Gorik A1 - Vellend, Mark A1 - Bernhardt-Römermann, Markus A1 - Brown, Carissa D. A1 - Brunet, Jörg A1 - Cornelis, Johnny A1 - Decocq, Guillaume M. A1 - Dierschke, Hartmut A1 - Eriksson, Ove A1 - Gilliam, Frank S. A1 - Hedl, Radim A1 - Heinken, Thilo A1 - Hermy, Martin A1 - Hommel, Patrick A1 - Jenkins, Michael A. A1 - Kelly, Daniel L. A1 - Kirby, Keith J. A1 - Mitchell, Fraser J. G. A1 - Naaf, Tobias A1 - Newman, Miles A1 - Peterken, George A1 - Petrik, Petr A1 - Schultz, Jan A1 - Sonnier, Gregory A1 - Van Calster, Hans A1 - Waller, Donald M. A1 - Walther, Gian-Reto A1 - White, Peter S. A1 - Woods, Kerry D. A1 - Wulf, Monika A1 - Graae, Bente Jessen A1 - Verheyen, Kris T1 - Microclimate moderates plant responses to macroclimate warming JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America N2 - Recent global warming is acting across marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems to favor species adapted to warmer conditions and/or reduce the abundance of cold-adapted organisms (i.e., "thermophilization" of communities). Lack of community responses to increased temperature, however, has also been reported for several taxa and regions, suggesting that "climatic lags" may be frequent. Here we show that microclimatic effects brought about by forest canopy closure can buffer biotic responses to macroclimate warming, thus explaining an apparent climatic lag. Using data from 1,409 vegetation plots in European and North American temperate forests, each surveyed at least twice over an interval of 12-67 y, we document significant thermophilization of ground-layer plant communities. These changes reflect concurrent declines in species adapted to cooler conditions and increases in species adapted to warmer conditions. However, thermophilization, particularly the increase of warm-adapted species, is attenuated in forests whose canopies have become denser, probably reflecting cooler growing-season ground temperatures via increased shading. As standing stocks of trees have increased in many temperate forests in recent decades, local microclimatic effects may commonly be moderating the impacts of macroclimate warming on forest understories. Conversely, increases in harvesting woody biomass-e.g., for bioenergy-may open forest canopies and accelerate thermophilization of temperate forest biodiversity. KW - climate change KW - forest management KW - understory KW - climatic debt KW - range shifts Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1311190110 SN - 0027-8424 VL - 110 IS - 46 SP - 18561 EP - 18565 PB - National Acad. of Sciences CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wasof, Safaa A1 - Lenoir, Jonathan A1 - Gallet-Moron, Emilie A1 - Jamoneau, Aurelien A1 - Brunet, Jörg A1 - Cousins, Sara A. O. A1 - De Frenne, Pieter A1 - Diekmann, Martin A1 - Hermy, Martin A1 - Kolb, Annette A1 - Liira, Jaan A1 - Verheyen, Kris A1 - Wulf, Monika A1 - Decocq, Guillaume T1 - Ecological niche shifts of understorey plants along a latitudinal gradient of temperate forests in north-western Europe JF - Global ecology and biogeography : a journal of macroecology N2 - Aim In response to environmental changes and to avoid extinction, species may either track suitable environmental conditions or adapt to the modified environment. However, whether and how species adapt to environmental changes remains unclear. By focusing on the realized niche (i.e. the actual space that a species inhabits and the resources it can access as a result of limiting biotic factors present in its habitat), we here examine shifts in the realized-niche width (i.e. ecological amplitude) and position (i.e. ecological optimum) of 26 common and widespread forest understorey plants across their distributional ranges. Location Temperate forests along a ca. 1800-km-long latitudinal gradient from northern France to central Sweden and Estonia. Methods We derived species' realized-niche width from a -diversity metric, which increases if the focal species co-occurs with more species. Based on the concept that species' scores in a detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) represent the locations of their realized-niche positions, we developed a novel approach to run species-specific DCAs allowing the focal species to shift its realized-niche position along the studied latitudinal gradient while the realized-niche positions of other species were held constant. Results None of the 26 species maintained both their realized-niche width and position along the latitudinal gradient. Few species (9 of 26: 35%) shifted their realized-niche width, but all shifted their realized-niche position. With increasing latitude, most species (22 of 26: 85%) shifted their realized-niche position for soil nutrients and pH towards nutrient-poorer and more acidic soils. Main conclusions Forest understorey plants shifted their realized niche along the latitudinal gradient, suggesting local adaptation and/or plasticity. This macroecological pattern casts doubt on the idea that the realized niche is stable in space and time, which is a key assumption of species distribution models used to predict the future of biodiversity, hence raising concern about predicted extinction rates. KW - Beta diversity KW - climate change KW - detrended correspondence analyses KW - Ellenberg indicator values KW - forest understorey plant species KW - niche optimum KW - niche width KW - plant community KW - realized niche Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12073 SN - 1466-822X VL - 22 IS - 10 SP - 1130 EP - 1140 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER -