Climate Change-Driven Shifts in Elevation and Ecophysiological Traits of Himalayan Plants during the Past Century

Abstract

As broad-scale distributions of plants are shaped by climatic conditions, changes of climate necessarily result in shifts of distributional limits. These shifts are closely coupled with changes in plant ecophysiology, growth and productivity. Among environments subjected to the highest increase in temperature in the last decade and the greatest expected warming predicted for the future, high-mountain biomes belong to the most frequently considered. Evidence for distributional shifts has been mostly documented in European and American mountains, while the largest and highest mountainous areas are located in Asia. The present study aims to detect climate change-driven shifts in elevation and ecophysiological traits of endemic herb species of Himalaya with the help of herbarium specimens as potential tool. We observed significant rapid upward elevational shift of 55.2 m/decade compared to average global shifting of 6.1 m/decade and impulsive variations in secondary metabolite concentration. Significant negative relationship was found for stomatal density, δ 13 C with the lapse of years. Analysis of instrumental temperature data reveals an increase of 0.31°C in mean maximum and 0.79°C in mean minimum temperature during the last century.