In the article Global functional variation in alpine vegetation (doi: 10.1111/jvs.13000) published in the Journal of Vegetation Science, Prof. Arkadiusz Nowak, along with a team of botanists from around the world working under the direction of Riccardo Testolin, learned about the variability of functional traits in alpine vegetation and the environmental factors shaping it.

The most important factors influencing the functional variability of species were related to foliage architecture and photosynthetic efficiency of leaves. The value of functional variability was different in different biogeographic regions of the world, but independent of local climate and vegetation zone. Such relationships were noted for both the local species pool and plant communities. The influence of environmental and phylogenetic variation on the functional variability of vegetation was of comparable strength.

Plant species found in the alpine floor have similar proportions of key life functions, although the predominance of those traits associated with life under stress and resource scarcity is becoming apparent. The current macroclimate has a relatively limited impact on alpine vegetation, having significance mainly at the community level in combination with phylogenetic variation. Global alpine vegetation is functionally unrelated to the vegetation floors in which it occurs, while showing strong functional convergence between regions.

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2021-04-12 06:52:40