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Montane forest expansion at high elevations drives rapid reduction in non‐forest area, despite no change in mean forest elevation

Morley, Peter J.; Donoghue, Daniel N.M.; Chen, Jan‐Chang; Jump, Alastair S.

Montane forest expansion at high elevations drives rapid reduction in non‐forest area, despite no change in mean forest elevation Thumbnail


Authors

Peter J. Morley

Jan‐Chang Chen

Alastair S. Jump



Abstract

Aim: At the elevational limit of forest distribution, montane forests show diverse responses to environmental change with upward shifts, increased tree density and lateral expansion reported. To enable informed analysis of the consequences forest advance will have on montane biodiversity, we quantify changes in the area and elevation of the tree line ecotone and identify how patterns of forest advance are modified by topography and over time. Location: Central Mountain Range, Taiwan. Time period: 1963–2016. Major taxa studied: Montane Forests. Methods: Changes in the area and elevation of montane forest at the tree line ecotone were quantified using a stratified random sample of aerial photography captured in 1963, 1980, 2001 and 2016. Weighted estimates of habitat area and elevation for each time step were used to quantify the influence of slope aspect and inclination on tree line ecotone change and identify how the rate of habitat change varies over time. Results: Non‐forest area declined by 29% between 1963 and 2016 driven by a 295.0 ha increase in forest area within the study region. Despite no change in mean forest elevation, the mean elevation of establishing forest has increased at a rate of 2.17 m/yr. Changes in forest area and elevation are spatially variable, driven by the complex montane topography. East and south facing slopes show the largest gains in forest area and 0–20° slopes show an increasing rate of forest establishment up to 2016, while slopes facing west or with incline > 46° show negligible change. Main conclusions: Climate‐linked montane forest expansion in the Central Mountain Range in Taiwan is dominated by infilling rather than increases in forest elevation. Forest expansion has significantly reduced non‐forest habitat area in this endemic species‐rich region. However, considerable terrain‐dependent variation in forest advance occurs, offering the potential that non‐forest species will continue to persist at high elevations with reduced population size.

Citation

Morley, P. J., Donoghue, D. N., Chen, J., & Jump, A. S. (2020). Montane forest expansion at high elevations drives rapid reduction in non‐forest area, despite no change in mean forest elevation. Journal of Biogeography, 47(11), 2405-2416. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13951

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jul 9, 2020
Online Publication Date Sep 11, 2020
Publication Date 2020-11
Deposit Date Sep 15, 2020
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Journal of Biogeography
Print ISSN 0305-0270
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 47
Issue 11
Pages 2405-2416
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13951

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
Advance online version © 2020 The Authors. Journal of Biogeography published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.






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