RESEARCH PAPER
Climatic niche limits and community-level vulnerability of obligate symbioses
Robert J. Smith,
Sarah Jovan,
Bruce McCune,
Corresponding Author
Robert J. Smith
Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
Correspondence
Robert J. Smith, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorSarah Jovan
Forest Inventory and Analysis Program, USDA Forest Service, PNW Research Station, Portland, OR, USA
Search for more papers by this authorBruce McCune
Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
Search for more papers by this authorRobert J. Smith,
Sarah Jovan,
Bruce McCune,
Corresponding Author
Robert J. Smith
Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
Correspondence
Robert J. Smith, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorSarah Jovan
Forest Inventory and Analysis Program, USDA Forest Service, PNW Research Station, Portland, OR, USA
Search for more papers by this authorBruce McCune
Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
Search for more papers by this authorHandling Editor: Dr. Erin Saupe
Abstract
Aim
Communities with many species at their climatic niche limits may be vulnerable to species losses, suggesting that niche-based measures can inform vulnerability assessments. We aimed to quantify spatial variation in community-level vulnerability indices based on niche limits, not just central tendencies, to predict where climate changes will produce rapid, pronounced shifts in ecological communities.
Location
North America.
Taxon
Epiphytic lichenized fungi.
Methods
We integrated broad-extent herbarium data (46,343 North American sites, for estimation of realized niches) with systematic, whole-community macrolichen surveys from the U.S. Forest Inventory and Analysis inventory (6,474 U.S. sites, for standardized vulnerability estimation). We introduce three niche-based vulnerability indices describing (a) percentage of vulnerable species occurring at their upper climatic limits, (b) community-mean percentile, and (c) deviation of local conditions from community-mean upper limits. We also performed sensitivity analyses and evaluated vulnerability in future climate change scenarios.
Results
Sensitivity of indices to uncertainty in climate variables was minor. Present-day vulnerability was greatest in north-central California, in the Southwest along the western Colorado Plateau, and on the Southeastern coastal plain—locations where climatically-induced compositional changes will become most evident. Under future warming scenarios (+0.5 to + 3.6°C increases), the percentage of U.S. epiphytic macrolichen communities exceeding critical values grew from about 2%–20%.
Main conclusions
In all scenarios the most vulnerable communities were concentrated in low-elevation and southerly locations, suggesting that many ostensibly “warm-adapted” communities may be close to exceeding their climatic limits. Findings indicate that warming and moisture changes will modify community compositions through the local loss of intolerant species pushed beyond their niche limits. Assessing vulnerability of bioindicators such as lichens will help prioritize locations where the greatest climate-induced changes in species distributions and diversity will occur.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
All data (species occurrences, community inventories and climate data) and computer code (R format) are available in a self-contained, open-access, public repository at: https://github.com/phytomosaic/vuln.
Supporting Information
| Filename | Description |
|---|---|
| jbi13719-sup-0001-AppendixS1.docxWord document, 19.4 KB | |
| jbi13719-sup-0002-AppendixS2.docxWord document, 146.8 KB | |
| jbi13719-sup-0003-AppendixS3.docxWord document, 38 KB | |
| jbi13719-sup-0004-AppendixS4.pdfPDF document, 162.2 KB |
Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.
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