Highlighted publications

Testolin, R. et al. (2021). Global functional variation in alpine vegetation. Journal of Vegetation Science 32: e13000
Plant species in alpine areas reflect the global variation of plant function, but with a predominant role of resource use strategies. Current macroclimate exerts a limited effect on alpine vegetation, mostly acting at the community level in combination with evolutionary history. Global alpine vegetation is functionally unrelated to the vegetation zones in which it is embedded, exhibiting strong functional convergence across regions.

Testolin, R. et al. (2021). Global patterns and drivers of alpine plant species richness. Global Ecology and Biogeography (early view)
We assessed the global patterns of plant species richness in alpine ecosystems and their association with environmental, geographical and historical factors at regional and community scales. 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. Our results suggest that the diversity of alpine plants is linked to regional idiosyncrasies and to the historical prevalence of alpine ecosystems, rather than current macroclimatic gradients.

Jiménez-Alfaro, B. et al. (2021). Post-glacial determinants of regional species pools in alpine grasslands. Global Ecology and Biogeography 30: 1101-1115
We investigated the major determinants of species pools in 23 European alpine regions, and the responses of their constituent species groups. Besides area effects, edaphic, topographic and spatio‐temporal determinants are important to understand the organization of regional species pools in alpine habitats. The number of alpine species is especially linked to refugia and isolation, but their composition is explained by past dispersal and post‐glacial environmental filtering, while non‐alpines are generally influenced by regional floras.
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Fernández-Pascual, E. et al. (2020). The global seed germination spectrum of alpine plants: a global meta-analysis. New Phytologist (early view)
A synthesis of primary germination data from laboratory experiments conducted across four continents, covering 661 alpine species from 62 seed plant families. Globally, alpine plants show physiological seed dormancy, a strong need for cold stratification, warm‐cued germination and positive germination responses to light and alternating temperatures. Results indicate the convergence, at the global level, of the seed germination spectrum of alpine species.

Testolin, R. et al. (2020). Global distribution and bioclimatic characterization of alpine biomes. Ecography 43: 779-788
This study delineates a group of global alpine biomes, occupying the climatic envelope of temperate, boreal and tundra biomes as defined in Whittaker’s scheme. Although alpine ecosystems are similarly dominated by poorly vegetated areas, world ecoregions show strong differences in the productivity of their alpine belt irrespectively of major climate zones. These results suggest that vegetation structure and function of alpine ecosystems are driven by regional and local contingencies in addition to macroclimatic factors.

Malanson, G.P. et al. (2020). Hemispheric and continental scale patterns of similarity in mountain tundra. Annals of the American Association of Geographers 110: 1005-1021
Vascular plants and bryophytes in thirteen mountain regions were analyzed: eight in Europe and five in North America, nine midlatitude and four oroarctic. The importance of geography at these scales suggests that past evolutionary and ecological processes are as important as current fit to any climatic niche. Interpretation of observations of the impacts of global climate change should recognize geographic context and phylogeny, and policies to mitigate them, such as assisted migration, should be cautious.

Malanson, G.P. et al. (2019). Mountain plant communities: Uncertain sentinels? Progress in Physical Geography 43: 521-543
Alpine treeline ecotones and alpine vegetation have been observed to respond to climate change in recent decades. The treeline has moved upslope and alpine communities have had some species increase and others decrease. The response for both, however, has been inconsistent if taken as a whole. Abiotic and biotic interactions partially decouple the plant communities from climate. Differences across spatial and temporal scales complicate interpretation. Partial decoupling leads to nonlinear responses and difficulties for prediction and for planning mitigation.

Mondoni, A. et al. (2018). Seed dormancy and longevity in subarctic and arctic populations of Silene suecica. Alpine Botany 128: 71-81
Despite the strong environmental control of seed dormancy and longevity, their changes along latitudes are poorly understood. Seeds of seven populations collected from alpine and subarctic populations were incubated at four temperature regimes and five cold stratification intevals. Germination and dormancy were driven by an interplay of geographical and climatic factors, with alpine and warm versus subarctic and cool autumn conditions. Germination and dormancy patterns typically found in alpine habitats may not be found in the arctic. 

García-Gutiérrez, T. et al. (2018). Functional diversity and ecological requirements of alpine vegetation types in a biogeographical transition zone. Phytocoenologia 48: 77-89 
This study demonstrates how two vegetation types that to co-occur in the same alpine landscape have species with specific functional traits and ecological requirements. This is likely driven by environmental filtering along meso-topographical gradients, favouring species with Mediterranean distribution in stressed habitats, and species with Eurosiberian distribution in microhabitats that retain soil water and nutrients. The distribution of functional diversity along these gradients may explain the resilience of alpine plant species in biogeographical transition zones of southern Europe.

Tudela-Isanta, M. et al. (2018). Habitat-related seed germination traits in alpine habitats. Ecology and Evolution 8: 150-161
Understanding the key aspects of plant regeneration from seeds is crucial in assessing species assembly to their habitats. Seeds of 53 species growing in alpine siliceous and calcareous habitats were exposed to different temperature treatments under controlled laboratory conditions. Alpine species use different germination strategies depending on habitat provenance, species’ main microhabitat, and chorotype. Such differences may reflect adaptations to local environmental conditions and highlight the role of germination and dormancy in community ecology.

Fernández-Pascual, E. et al. (2017). Comparative seed germination traits in alpine and subalpine grasslands: higher elevations are associated with warmer germination temperatures. Plant Biology 19: 32-40
Our results show that germination traits in high‐mountain grasslands are closely linked to the alpine–subalpine gradient. Alpine species, especially those from stripped and wind‐edge communities, prefer warmer germination niches, suggesting that summer emergence prevents frost damage during seedling establishment. In contrast, alpine snowfield and subalpine grassland plants have cold germination niches, indicating that winter emergence may occur under snow to avoid drought stress.

Jiménez-Alfaro, B. et al. (2016). Anticipating extinctions of glacial relict populations in mountain refugia. Biological conservation 201: 243-2515  
Glacial relict populations at the rear-edge of species' distributions are expected to respond dramatically to climate warming, yet very few studies have compared their conservation status in current refugia. By combining population genetics with SDMs in two cold-adapted species isolated in the Iberian Peninsula, we report functional extinctions of marginal populations and  highlight that glacial relict populations might be currently going into extinction in climatically marginal regions.

Jiménez-Alfaro, B. et al. (2014). Biogeographic deconstruction of alpine plant communities along altitudinal and topogaphical gradients. Journal of Vegetation Science 25: 160-171
Are species from different biogeographic groups (mediterranean, alpine and endemic) filtered in different ways by altitude and topography in alpine plant communities?  We found that, in alpine landscapes, biogeographic deconstruction of the species pool can provide a better understanding of the influence of altitude and topography on local communities than analysis of the entire community alone. Furthermore, the strong influence of local topography on species groups improves our understanding of how alpine species will respond to climate change.