Late Quaternary climate legacies in contemporary plant functional composition.
Glob Chang Biol
; 24(10): 4827-4840, 2018 10.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-30058198
ABSTRACT
The functional composition of plant communities is commonly thought to be determined by contemporary climate. However, if rates of climate-driven immigration and/or exclusion of species are slow, then contemporary functional composition may be explained by paleoclimate as well as by contemporary climate. We tested this idea by coupling contemporary maps of plant functional trait composition across North and South America to paleoclimate means and temporal variation in temperature and precipitation from the Last Interglacial (120 ka) to the present. Paleoclimate predictors strongly improved prediction of contemporary functional composition compared to contemporary climate predictors, with a stronger influence of temperature in North America (especially during periods of ice melting) and of precipitation in South America (across all times). Thus, climate from tens of thousands of years ago influences contemporary functional composition via slow assemblage dynamics.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Clima
/
Fenómenos Fisiológicos de las Plantas
Tipo de estudio:
Prognostic_studies
País/Región como asunto:
America do norte
/
America do sul
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Glob Chang Biol
Año:
2018
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Reino Unido