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. 2008 Aug 19;105(33):11823-6.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.0802891105. Epub 2008 Aug 12.

Rapid shifts in plant distribution with recent climate change

Anne E Kelly  1 , Michael L Goulden
Affiliations

Rapid shifts in plant distribution with recent climate change

Anne E Kelly et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

A change in climate would be expected to shift plant distribution as species expand in newly favorable areas and decline in increasingly hostile locations. We compared surveys of plant cover that were made in 1977 and 2006-2007 along a 2,314-m elevation gradient in Southern California's Santa Rosa Mountains. Southern California's climate warmed at the surface, the precipitation variability increased, and the amount of snow decreased during the 30-year period preceding the second survey. We found that the average elevation of the dominant plant species rose by approximately 65 m between the surveys. This shift cannot be attributed to changes in air pollution or fire frequency and appears to be a consequence of changes in regional climate.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Elevation distribution of absolute percent coverage of the ten dominant species across the Deep Canyon Transect in 1977.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Total percent coverage by perennial plants along the Deep Canyon Transect in 1977 and 2006–2007. Error bars, 95% confidence interval.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Changing vegetation distribution from 1977 to 2006–2007. Elevation distribution of the mean normalized vegetation coverage of the ten most widely distributed species in 1977 and 2006–2007.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • Vegetation synchronously leans upslope as climate warms.
    Breshears DD, Huxman TE, Adams HD, Zou CB, Davison JE. Breshears DD, et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Aug 19;105(33):11591-2. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0806579105. Epub 2008 Aug 12. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008. PMID: 18697950 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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