Divergent responses of alpine bryophytes and lichens to climate change in the Swiss Alps

Questions

The alpine vegetation of the Alps is particularly vulnerable to climate change, as the temperature increase in this region is twice the global average and the available area for new colonisations decreases with increasing elevation. While numerous studies have investigated the response of vascular plants to a warming climate in the alpine belt, only a handful have investigated that of cryptogams in the European Alps. Based on a 21-year monitoring project, we assessed the effects of climate change on cryptogams along elevation, from the treeline to the subnival belt.

Location

Four GLORIA summits in Valais (Switzerland).

Methods

Between 2001 and 2022, terricolous lichens and bryophytes (from 2008) were inventoried in 52 1-m² plots distributed across four summits: 2360 m a.s.l. (treeline), 2550 m (lower alpine), 2990 m (upper alpine) and 3210 m (subnival). Changes in species cover and richness were analysed using generalised linear mixed-effects model (GLMMs).

Results

For bryophytes, total cover remained stable overall. However, six species declined significantly between 2008 and 2022, and the species richness decreased after 2015. For terricolous lichens, total cover significantly increased on the lower alpine summit, while species richness increased on the upper alpine and subnival summits.

Conclusions

Bryophytes have probably suffered from the increasingly dry conditions, with a succession of very warm and dry summers over the last decades. Terricolous lichens have taken advantage of the warmer conditions to increase their cover on the lower alpine summit, and new species have colonised the upper summits. However, as they compete with vascular plants for soil and light, they may suffer from shrub and tree encroachment in the future and will be limited upwards by the rarity of developed soils. The large topo-climatic gradient (850 m) and the length of the time series suggest that similar trends are likely to be more widespread across the Alps.