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Effects of grazing abandonment and climate change on mountain summits flora: a case study in the Tatra Mts

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Abstract

Changes in the local flora of mountains are often explained by climate warming, but changes in grazing regimes may also be important. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the alpine flora on summits in the Tatra Mts, Poland and Slovakia, has changed over the last 100 years, and if the observed changes are better explained by changes in sheep grazing or climate. We resurveyed the flora of 14 mountain summits initially investigated in the years 1878–1948. We used ordination methods to quantify changes in species composition. We tested whether changes in plant species composition could be explained by cessation of grazing and climate change, and whether these factors have influenced shifts in Ellenberg’s plant ecological indicator values and Raunkiaer’s life forms. Changes in alpine flora were greater on lower elevation summits, and lower on summits less accessible for sheep. More accessible summits were associated with a decrease in mean values of plant species’ light ecological indicator values over time, and a concurrent increase in temperature and nitrogen ecological indicator values. No significant relationships were found between accessibility for sheep and changes in Raunkiaer’s life-forms. Greater accessibility for sheep (meaning high historical grazing pressure) led to greater compositional changes of mountain summits compared with summits with low accessibility. Our results suggest that cessation of sheep grazing was the main factor causing changes in the species composition of resurveyed mountain summits in the Tatra Mts, while climate change played a more minor role.

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Acknowledgements

The research leading to these results received funding from the Polish–Norwegian Research Programme operated by the National Centre for Research and Development under the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2009–2014 in the frame of project KlimaVeg, Contract No. Pol-Nor/196,829/87/2013. We are very grateful to employees of the Tatra National Park for their great help in our field work: mgr inż. Blažena Sedláková and dr inż. Tomasz Zwijacz-Kozica. We are grateful to the four anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Białowieża Geobotanical Station, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Sportowa 19, 17–230, Białowieża, Poland

    Patryk Czortek & Bogdan Jaroszewicz

  2. Department of Biology, University of Bergen, Thormøhlens Gate 53A, 5006, Bergen, Norway

    Amy E. Eycott & John-Arvid Grytnes

  3. W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lubicz 46, 31-512, Kraków, Poland

    Anna Delimat

  4. Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Holtvegen 66, 9016, Tromsø, Norway

    Jutta Kapfer

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  1. Patryk Czortek
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  2. Amy E. Eycott
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  3. John-Arvid Grytnes
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  4. Anna Delimat
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  5. Jutta Kapfer
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  6. Bogdan Jaroszewicz
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Correspondence to Patryk Czortek.

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Communicated by Philip Fay.

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Czortek, P., Eycott, A.E., Grytnes, JA. et al. Effects of grazing abandonment and climate change on mountain summits flora: a case study in the Tatra Mts. Plant Ecol 219, 261–276 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-018-0794-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-018-0794-6

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