Updating knowledge of vegetation belts on a complex oceanic island after 20 years under the effect of climate change

作者：Juan José García‐Alvarado, Víctor Bello‐Rodríguez, Juana María González‐Mancebo, Marcelino José Del Arco · 发表于：Biodiversity and Conservation · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1007/s10531-024-02864-3 · 被引用次数：12 · 研究领域：Species Distribution and Climate Change、Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

Abstract Climate change is causing major changes in terrestrial ecosystems and biomes around the world. This is particularly concerning in oceanic islands, considered reservoirs of biodiversity, even more in those with a significant altitudinal gradient and high complexity in the vegetation they potentially harbour. Here, in Tenerife (Canary Islands), we have evaluated the changes in potential vegetation belts during the last 20 years by comparing them with a previous study. Considering the intimate linkage between vegetation and climate, we used a methodology based on phytosociological knowledge, ordination techniques and geostatistics, using multivariate spatial interpolations of bioclimatic data. This has allowed us to spatially detect the variations experienced by eight vegetation units during the last 20 years and incorporating a set of vulnerability metrics. New bioclimatic and vegetation cartography are provided according to the current scenario studied (1990–2019). Our results indicate that summit vegetation, humid laurel forest and thermo-sclerophyllous woodland are the habitats that have experienced a very high area loss and mismatch index, strong changes, if we consider that we are only comparing a period of 20 years. Simultaneously, the more xeric vegetation belts, the dry laurel forest and the pine forest would have benefited from this new warmer and drier climate, by gaining area and experiencing strong upward movements. These changes have not been spatially uni...