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.

Seedling dynamics at elevation limits: Complex interactions beyond seed and microsite limitations.

Premise Of The Study: Limited availability of seeds and microsites are important constraints for seedling emergence and survival. However, little is known about population-level feedbacks between seed and microsite limitation and how these relationships vary in contrasting conditions. Focusing on Armeria caespitosa, a high-mountain endemic, we asked whether seedling establishment was simultaneously limited by seed and microsite availability, whether the balance between seed and microsite limitations varied with contrasting environments, and whether seed and microsite limitations interacted with each other.

Pollination context effects in the high-mountain dimorphic Armeria caespitosa (Plumbaginaceae): Neighborhood is something more than density.

Frequency-dependent processes are relevant for flowering plant reproduction, especially for species with disassortative mating. In an individual-based study, we tested not only the effects of local density on reproductive success at small spatial scales, but also those of neighborhood quality. To test the neighborhood effects on the reproduction of Armeria caespitosa, a dimorphic Mediterranean high-mountain endemic, we introduce a novel pollination context (PC) index that considered the distance, floral display, and floral morph of neighbors at small scales (within 2 m from the focal plant), studying rock and pasture populations at both edges of the species altitudinal distribution.

Reproduction of an early-flowering Mediterranean mountain narrow endemic (Armeria caespitosa) in a contracting mountain island.

Reproduction at population lower edges is important for plant species persistence, especially in populations on contracting high-mountain islands. In this context, the ability of plants to reproduce in different microhabitats seems to be important to guarantee seed production in stressful environments, such as Mediterranean high mountains. We hypothesised that the warmer and drier conditions at the lower edge would be deleterious for the reproduction of Armeria caespitosa, an early-flowering plant.