Tracking floristic archetypes of Patagonian steppes
Questions: The classification of plant communities is a well-established practice in ecology. However, the factors that determine the distribution of common species and the extent of their dominance and overlap are still being debated. Large-scale studies based on field data are of great interest in...
| Autores principales: | , , , , |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
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Wiley
2024
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| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/16971 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/avsc.12769 https://doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12769 |
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| author | Easdale, Marcos Horacio Martin Albarracin, Valeria Leticia Perri, Daiana Vanesa Lopez, Dardo Ruben Bruzzone, Octavio Augusto |
| author_browse | Bruzzone, Octavio Augusto Easdale, Marcos Horacio Lopez, Dardo Ruben Martin Albarracin, Valeria Leticia Perri, Daiana Vanesa |
| author_facet | Easdale, Marcos Horacio Martin Albarracin, Valeria Leticia Perri, Daiana Vanesa Lopez, Dardo Ruben Bruzzone, Octavio Augusto |
| author_sort | Easdale, Marcos Horacio |
| collection | INTA Digital |
| description | Questions: The classification of plant communities is a well-established practice in ecology. However, the factors that determine the distribution of common species and the extent of their dominance and overlap are still being debated. Large-scale studies based on field data are of great interest in the face of biodiversity changes and climate change impacts. This research was designed to answer the following two questions: What are the dominant plant communities in the Patagonian steppes and how do they relate to environmental features, as measured by latitude, longitude, altitude, mean annual precipitation and mean temperature? What have been the recent changes in plant communities in terms of expansion and contraction of different types of communities?
Location: Patagonian steppes (South America).
Methods: We used a large database of species-by-species vegetation cover from 426 monitoring plots in the South American Patagonian steppes, surveyed between 2007 and 2019, with two different assessment dates at least 5 years apart. We applied archetypal analysis to identify different vegetation compositions at a regional scale (called floristic archetypes) and to track their changes over time. In addition, we analyzed the relationship between floristic archetypes and spatial and meteorological variables to assess the association between floristic composition and the environmental context.
Results: Seven floristic archetypes were identified in the Patagonian steppes. The dominant and most widespread floristic archetype showed an expanding pattern in floristic trajectories and was positively associated with mean annual temperature. This floristic archetype was characterized by both drought- and grazing-tolerant species. Two floristic archetypes located at the longitudinal extremes showed decreasing relative participation in the vegetation configurations, and the archetype located towards the west showed a positive relationship with annual precipitation, suggesting a threatened scenario in the face of drier conditions. Southern floristic archetypes either showed a slight decrease or remained stable.
Conclusions: Patagonian steppes are dominated by both drought- and grazing-tolerant species communities and their spatial distribution is expanding across different biomes, whereas the more forage-preferred species were associated with a decreasing floristic archetype. A projected drier and hotter climate scenario may potentiate this pattern. The floristic archetypes framework has potential as a monitoring tool for tracking changes in vegetation composition at a mesoscale and for identifying hotspots of vulnerable vegetation in the face of environmental changes. |
| format | Artículo |
| id | INTA16971 |
| institution | Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA -Argentina) |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publishDateRange | 2024 |
| publishDateSort | 2024 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| publisherStr | Wiley |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | INTA169712024-03-08T12:25:29Z Tracking floristic archetypes of Patagonian steppes Easdale, Marcos Horacio Martin Albarracin, Valeria Leticia Perri, Daiana Vanesa Lopez, Dardo Ruben Bruzzone, Octavio Augusto Estepas Ecosistema Cambio Climático Sequía Zona Arida Steppes Ecosystems Climate Change Drought Arid Zones Región Patagónica Questions: The classification of plant communities is a well-established practice in ecology. However, the factors that determine the distribution of common species and the extent of their dominance and overlap are still being debated. Large-scale studies based on field data are of great interest in the face of biodiversity changes and climate change impacts. This research was designed to answer the following two questions: What are the dominant plant communities in the Patagonian steppes and how do they relate to environmental features, as measured by latitude, longitude, altitude, mean annual precipitation and mean temperature? What have been the recent changes in plant communities in terms of expansion and contraction of different types of communities? Location: Patagonian steppes (South America). Methods: We used a large database of species-by-species vegetation cover from 426 monitoring plots in the South American Patagonian steppes, surveyed between 2007 and 2019, with two different assessment dates at least 5 years apart. We applied archetypal analysis to identify different vegetation compositions at a regional scale (called floristic archetypes) and to track their changes over time. In addition, we analyzed the relationship between floristic archetypes and spatial and meteorological variables to assess the association between floristic composition and the environmental context. Results: Seven floristic archetypes were identified in the Patagonian steppes. The dominant and most widespread floristic archetype showed an expanding pattern in floristic trajectories and was positively associated with mean annual temperature. This floristic archetype was characterized by both drought- and grazing-tolerant species. Two floristic archetypes located at the longitudinal extremes showed decreasing relative participation in the vegetation configurations, and the archetype located towards the west showed a positive relationship with annual precipitation, suggesting a threatened scenario in the face of drier conditions. Southern floristic archetypes either showed a slight decrease or remained stable. Conclusions: Patagonian steppes are dominated by both drought- and grazing-tolerant species communities and their spatial distribution is expanding across different biomes, whereas the more forage-preferred species were associated with a decreasing floristic archetype. A projected drier and hotter climate scenario may potentiate this pattern. The floristic archetypes framework has potential as a monitoring tool for tracking changes in vegetation composition at a mesoscale and for identifying hotspots of vulnerable vegetation in the face of environmental changes. EEA Bariloche Fil: Easdale, Marcos Horacio. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; Argentina Fil: Easdale, Marcos Horacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; Argentina Fil: Martin Albarracin, Valeria Leticia. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; Argentina Fil: Martin Albarracin, Valeria Leticia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; Argentina Fil: Perri, Daiana Vanesa. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; Argentina Fil: Perri, Daiana Vanesa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; Argentina Fil: Lopez, Dardo Ruben. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Manfredi. Estación Forestal Villa Dolores; Argentina Fil: Bruzzone, Octavio Augusto. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; Argentina Fil: Bruzzone, Octavio Augusto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; Argentina 2024-03-08T12:20:50Z 2024-03-08T12:20:50Z 2024-03 info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/16971 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/avsc.12769 1402-2001 1654-109X https://doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12769 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) application/pdf Wiley Applied Vegetation Science 27 (1) : e12769. (January/March 2024) |
| spellingShingle | Estepas Ecosistema Cambio Climático Sequía Zona Arida Steppes Ecosystems Climate Change Drought Arid Zones Región Patagónica Easdale, Marcos Horacio Martin Albarracin, Valeria Leticia Perri, Daiana Vanesa Lopez, Dardo Ruben Bruzzone, Octavio Augusto Tracking floristic archetypes of Patagonian steppes |
| title | Tracking floristic archetypes of Patagonian steppes |
| title_full | Tracking floristic archetypes of Patagonian steppes |
| title_fullStr | Tracking floristic archetypes of Patagonian steppes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tracking floristic archetypes of Patagonian steppes |
| title_short | Tracking floristic archetypes of Patagonian steppes |
| title_sort | tracking floristic archetypes of patagonian steppes |
| topic | Estepas Ecosistema Cambio Climático Sequía Zona Arida Steppes Ecosystems Climate Change Drought Arid Zones Región Patagónica |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/16971 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/avsc.12769 https://doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12769 |
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