<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Snowbed vegetation is one of the most sensitive alpine vegetation type to the climate change, because shortened period of snow cover has essential impact on the snowbed environment. We focus on its changes in the Western Tatras, which is a part of the Western Carpathians (Slovakia). The assessment of changes in snowbed vegetation is based on the method of pair comparison. In 2016–2018, we resampled 21 historical phytocoenological relevés of <italic>Festucion picturatae</italic> and <italic>Salicion herbaceae</italic> alliances from 1974 and 1976. Historical data include 45 species, while recent data include 50 species. We observed a decrease in the frequency of species characteristic for snowbeds and, on the other hand, an increase in that for strong competitors, especially grasses and small shrubs from adjacent habitats. According to Ellenberg’s ecological indices, there is some increase in temperature and decrease in light ecological factors in snowbed habitats. In <italic>S. herbaceae</italic> data, a statistically significant increase in the average species number was observed with new species that penetrated from the adjacent habitats. Changes in species composition between historical and recent data are confirmed by Non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) ordination diagram. Linear mixed-effect models showed big variability in factors that have impact on phytodiversity; nevertheless, temperature is the most significant factor.</p></abstract>

Snowbed vegetation is one of the most sensitive alpine vegetation type to the climate change, because shortened period of snow cover has essential impact on the snowbed environment. We focus on its changes in the Western Tatras, which is a part of the Western Carpathians (Slovakia). The assessment of changes in snowbed vegetation is based on the method of pair comparison. In 2016–2018, we resampled 21 historical phytocoenological relevés of Festucion picturatae and Salicion herbaceae alliances from 1974 and 1976. Historical data include 45 species, while recent data include 50 species. We observed a decrease in the frequency of species characteristic for snowbeds and, on the other hand, an increase in that for strong competitors, especially grasses and small shrubs from adjacent habitats. According to Ellenberg’s ecological indices, there is some increase in temperature and decrease in light ecological factors in snowbed habitats. In S. herbaceae data, a statistically significant increase in the average species number was observed with new species that penetrated from the adjacent habitats. Changes in species composition between historical and recent data are confirmed by Non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) ordination diagram. Linear mixed-effect models showed big variability in factors that have impact on phytodiversity; nevertheless, temperature is the most significant factor.

Changes in Snowbed Vegetation in the Western Carpathians Under Changing Climatic Conditions and Land Use in the Last Decades

Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences CPU in Nitra

Ekológia (Bratislava)

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Snowbed vegetation is one of the most sensitive alpine vegetation type to the climate change, because shortened period of snow cover has essential impact on...

Changes in Snowbed Vegetation in the Western Carpathians Under Changing Climatic Conditions and Land Use in the Last Decades

Published Online: Dec 04, 2019

Page range: 318 - 335

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/eko-2019-0024

Keywords
snowbed vegetation, changes, climate, land-use, Western Carpathians

© 2019 Andrej Palaj et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Changes in Snowbed Vegetation in the Western Carpathians Under Changing Climatic Conditions and Land Use in the Last Decades

Published Online: Dec 04, 2019

Page range: 318 - 335

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/eko-2019-0024

Keywordssnowbed vegetation, changes, climate, land-use, Western Carpathians

© 2019 Andrej Palaj et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
snowbed vegetation, changes, climate, land-use, Western Carpathians