How does climate change affect regeneration of Mediterranean high-mountain plants? An integration and synthesis of current knowledge.

Mediterranean mountains are extraordinarily diverse and hold a high proportion of endemic plants, but they are particularly vulnerable to climate change, and most species distribution models project drastic changes in community composition. Retrospective studies and long-term monitoring also highlight that Mediterranean high-mountain plants are suffering severe range contractions. The aim of this work is to review the current knowledge of climate change impacts on the process of plant regeneration by seed in Mediterranean high-mountain plants, by combining available information from observational and experimental studies. We also discuss some processes that may provide resilience against changing environmental conditions and suggest some research priorities for the future. With some exceptions, there is still little evidence of the direct effects of climate change on pollination and reproductive success of Mediterranean high-mountain plants, and most works are observational and/or centred only in the post-dispersal stages (germination and establishment). The great majority of studies agree that the characteristic summer drought and the extreme heatwaves, which are projected to be more intense in the future, are the most limiting factors for the regeneration process. However, there is an urgent need for studies combining elevational gradient approaches with experimental manipulations of temperature and drought to confirm the magnitude and variability of species' responses. There is also limited knowledge about the ability of Mediterranean high-mountain plants to cope with climate change through phenotypic plasticity and local adaptation processes. This could be achieved by performing common garden and reciprocal translocation experiments with species differing in life history traits.

Individual spatial aggregation correlates with between-population variation in fine-scale genetic structure of Silene ciliata (Caryophyllaceae).

Fine-scale genetic structure (FSGS) can vary among populations within species depending on multiple demographic and environmental factors. Theoretical models predict that FSGS should decrease in high-density populations and increase in populations where individuals are spatially aggregated. However, few empirical studies have compared FSGS between populations with different degrees of individual spatial aggregation and microhabitat heterogeneity. In this work, we studied the relationship between spatial and genetic structure in five populations of alpine specialist Silene ciliata Poiret (Caryophyllaceae). We mapped all individuals in each population and genotyped 96 of them using 10 microsatellite markers. We found significant FSGS consistent with an isolation-by-distance process in three of the five populations. The intensity of FSGS was positively associated with individual spatial aggregation. However, no association was found between FSGS and global population density or microhabitat heterogeneity. Overall, our results support theoretical studies indicating that stronger spatial aggregation tends to increase the magnitude of FSGS. They also highlight the relevance of characterizing local plant distribution and microhabitat to better understand the mechanisms that generate intraspecific variation in FSGS across landscapes.

Effects of the duration of cold stratification on early life stages of the Mediterranean alpine plant Silene ciliata.

Cold stratification provided by snow cover is essential to break seed dormancy in many alpine plant species. The forecast reduction in snow precipitation and snow cover duration in most temperate mountains as a result of global warming could threaten alpine plant populations, especially those at the edge of their species distribution, by altering the dynamics of early life stages. We simulated some effects of a reduction in the snow cover period by manipulating the duration of cold stratification in seeds of Silene ciliata, a Mediterranean alpine specialist. Seeds from three populations distributed along an altitudinal gradient were exposed to different periods of cold stratification (2, 4 and 6 months) in the laboratory and then moved to common garden conditions in a greenhouse. The duration of the cold stratification treatment and population origin significantly affected seed emergence percentage, emergence rate and seedling size, but not the number of seedling leaves. The 6-month and 4-month cold stratification treatments produced higher emergence percentages and faster emergence rates than seeds without cold stratification treatment. No significant cold stratification duration x seed population origin interactions were found, thus differential sensitivity to cold stratification along elevation is not supported.