Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Alpine plant species have limited capacity for long-distance seed dispersal

  • Published:
Plant Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Seed dispersal will be essential for plants to track future climate space, but dispersal capacity is rarely measured or incorporated into species distribution models. Using the entire alpine flora of the Snowy Mountains, south-eastern Australia, as a case study, we modelled the dispersal capacity of 198 species (93.4% of the flora) using the plant traits dispersal syndrome, seed mass, seed release height and growth form. The modelled maximum dispersal distances were mostly affected by dispersal syndrome of each species. The models reveal that 75% of species disperse up to 10 m, whilst 20% may disperse >100 m. Most species in this flora do not have any specific dispersal strategy, hence their inability to disperse >10 m. However, those species with longer modelled distances were dispersed by animals or wind (>600 and >140 m, respectively). This alpine flora has a low capacity for long-distance seed dispersal and is likely to suffer from migration lag as the local climate undergoes rapid changes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

References

  • Adler PB, Leiker J, Levine JM (2009) Direct and indirect effects of climate change on a prairie plant community. PLoS One 4:e6887

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Alexander JM, Diez JM, Levine JM (2015) Novel competitors shape species’ responses to climate change. Nature 525:515–518

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bertrand R, Lenoir J, Piedallu C, Riofrío-Dillon G, De Ruffray P, Vidal C, Pierrat J-C, Gégout J-C (2011) Changes in plant community composition lag behind climate warming in lowland forests. Nature 479:517–520

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Boulangeat I, Philippe P, Abdulhak S, Douzet R, Garraud L, Lavergne S, Lavorel S, Van Es J, Vittoz P, Thuiller W (2012) Improving plant functional groups for dynamic models of biodiversity: at the crossroads between functional and community ecology. Glob Change Biol 18:3464–3475

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown JAH, Millner FC (1989) Aspects of meteorology and hydology in the Australian Alps. In: Good RB (ed) The scientiifc significance of the Australian Alps. Proceedings of the first Fenner conferenceon the environment, Canberra, pp 297–329

  • Bullock JM, White SM, Prudhomme C, Tansey C, Perea R, Hooftman DA (2012) Modelling spread of British wind-dispersed plants under future wind speeds in a changing climate. J Ecol 100:104–115

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cang FA, Wilson AA, Wiens JJ (2016) Climate change is projected to outpace rates of niche change in grasses. Biol Let 12:20160368

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corlett RT, Westcott DA (2013) Will plant movements keep up with climate change? Trends Ecol Evol 28:482–488

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Costin AB, Gray M, Totterdell CJ, Wimbush DJ (2000) Kosciuszko alpine flora. CSIRO, Melbourne

    Google Scholar 

  • Driscoll DA, Banks SC, Barton PS, Ikin K, Lentini P, Lindenmayer DB, Smith AL, Berry LE, Burns EL, Edworthy A (2014) The trajectory of dispersal research in conservation biology. Systematic review. PloS One 9:e95053

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dullinger S, Gattringer A, Thuiller W, Moser D, Zimmermann NE, Guisan A, Willner W, Plutzar C, Leitner M, Mang T (2012) Extinction debt of high-mountain plants under twenty-first-century climate change. Nat Clim Change 2:619–622

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engler R, Randin CF, Vittoz P, Czáka T, Beniston M, Zimmermann NE, Guisan A (2009) Predicting future distributions of mountain plants under climate change: does dispersal capacity matter? Ecography 32:34–45

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frei E, Bodin J, Walther G-R (2010) Plant species’ range shifts in mountainous areas—all uphill from here? Bot Helv 120:117–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guisan A, Thuiller W (2005) Predicting species distribution: offering more than simple habitat models. Ecol Lett 8:993–1009

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hampe A (2011) Plants on the move: the role of seed dispersal and initial population establishment for climate-driven range expansions. Acta Oecol 37:666–673

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henery ML, Westoby M (2001) Seed mass and seed nutrient content as predictors of seed output variation between species. Oikos 92:479–490

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hennessy KB, Fitzharris B, Bates BC, Harvey N, Howden M, Hughes L, Salinger J, Warrick R (2007) Australia and New Zealand. In: Parry ML, Canziani OF, Palutikof JP, Linden PJ, Hanson CE (eds) Climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Contribution of working group II to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 507–540

  • Herrmann JD, Carlo TA, Brudvig LA, Damschen EI, Haddad NM, Levey DJ, Orrock JL, Tewksbury JJ (2016) Connectivity from a different perspective: comparing seed dispersal kernals in connected vs. unfragmented landscapes. Ecology 97:1274–1282

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Holt RD (2009) Bringing the Hutchinsonian niche into the 21st century: ecological and evolutionary perspectives. Proc Natl Acad Sci 106:19659–19665

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kattge J, Diaz S, Lavorel S, Prentice I, Leadley P, Bönisch G, Garnier E, Westoby M, Reich PB, Wright I (2011) TRY–a global database of plant traits. Glob Change Biol 17:2905–2935

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kinlan BP, Gaines SD (2003) Propagule dispersal in marine and terrestrial environments: a community perspective. Ecology 84:2007–2020

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kneitel JM, Miller TE (2003) Dispersal rates affect species composition in metacommunities of Sarracenia purpurea inquilines. Am Nat 162:165–171

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Körner C (2003) Alpine plant life: functional plant ecology of high mountain ecosystems. Springer, Berlin

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • KRBG (2008) Seed information database. Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Richmond

    Google Scholar 

  • Leishman MR, Wright IJ, Moles AT, Westoby M (2000) The evolutionary ecology of seed size. In: Fenner M (ed) The ecology of regeneration in plant communities. CAB International, pp 31–57

    Google Scholar 

  • Marteinsdóttir B, Eriksson O (2014) Plant community assembly in semi-natural grasslands and ex-arable fields: a trait-based approach. J Veg Sci 25:77–87

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Molau U, Larsson E-L (2000) Seed rain and seed bank along an alpine altitudinal gradient in Swedish Lapland. Can J Bot 78:728–747

    Google Scholar 

  • Moles AT, Westoby M (2004) Seedling survival and seed size: a synthesis of the literature. J Ecol 92:372–383

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pauli H, Gottfried M, Dullinger S, Abdaladze O, Akhalkatsi M, Alonso JLB, Coldea G, Dick J, Erschbamer B, Calzado RF (2012) Recent plant diversity changes on Europe’s mountain summits. Science 336:353–355

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pinheiro JC, Bates DM (2000) Mixed-effect models in S and S-Plus. Springer, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pinheiro J, Bates D, DebRoy S, Sarkar D, R Development Core Team (2011) nlme: linear and nonlinear mixed effects models. R package version 3.1-102. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=nlme

  • R Core Team (2013) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. http://www.R-project.org/

  • Riibak K, Reitalu T, Tamme R, Helm A, Gerhold P, Znamenskiy S, Bengtsson K, Rosén E, Prentice HC, Pärtel M (2015) Dark diversity in dry calcareous grasslands is determined by dispersal ability and stress-tolerance. Ecography 38:713–721

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skarpaas O, Stabbetorp OE, Ronning I, Svennungsen TO (2004) How far can a hawk’s beard fly? Measuring and modelling the dispersal of Crepis praemorsa. J Ecol 92:747–757

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tamme R, Götzenberger L, Zobel M, Bullock JM, Hooftman DA, Kaasik A, Pärtel M (2014) Predicting species’ maximum dispersal distances from simple plant traits. Ecology 95:505–513

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thomson FJ, Moles AT, Auld TD, Kingsford RT (2011) Seed dispersal distance is more strongly correlated with plant height than with seed mass. J Ecol 99:1299–1307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Venn SE, Morgan JW (2010) Soil seedbank composition and dynamics across alpine summits in south-eastern Australia. Aust J Bot 58:349–362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vittoz P, Engler R (2007) Seed dispersal distances: a typology based on dispersal modes and plant traits. Bot Helv 117:109–124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vittoz P, Dussex N, Wassef J, Guisan A (2009) Diaspore traits discriminate good from weak colonisers on high-elevation summits. Basic Appl Ecol 10:508–515

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westoby M, Kunstler G, Leishman ML, Morgan J (2017) How species boundaries are determined: a response to Alexander et al. Trends Ecol Evol 32:7–8

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Williams NS, Hahs AK, Morgan JW (2008) A dispersal-constrained habitat suitability model for predicting invasion of the alpine vegetation. Ecol Appl 18:347–359

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Willson M (1993) Dispersal mode, seed shadows, and colonization patterns. Vegetatio 107:261–280

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu K, Woodall CW, Clark JS (2012) Failure to migrate: lack of tree range expansion in response to climate change. Glob Change Biol 18:1042–1052

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Sarah Fethers facilitated access to the ANBG seed bank database; Lydia Guja and Catherine Pickering kindly provided much of the seed mass data. Riin Tamme helped with dispersal modelling. Bob Parsons, Susanna Bryceson and Riin Tamme made helpful comments on the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Centre for Applied Alpine Ecology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, 3086, Australia

    J. W. Morgan & S. E. Venn

  2. Department of Ecology, Environment and Evolution, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, 3086, Australia

    J. W. Morgan & S. E. Venn

  3. Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, 2601, Australia

    S. E. Venn

Authors
  1. J. W. Morgan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. S. E. Venn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. E. Venn.

Additional information

Communicated by Paul M Ramsay.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 45 kb)

Appendix 1

Appendix 1

The mean maximum dispersal distance (m), and other species traits for all the species used in the study. Dispersal syndromes: animal, the seeds has hooks or barbs which catch on fur or hair, or the seed is bird dispersed; wind, the seeds have special appendages such as a bristle pappus which allows the seed to float through the air and be carried by the wind; ballistic, the seed is ejected from a dehiscent pod or capsule; gravity, the seed has no special dispersal adaptations and simply falls to the ground from the parent plant.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Morgan, J.W., Venn, S.E. Alpine plant species have limited capacity for long-distance seed dispersal. Plant Ecol 218, 813–819 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-017-0731-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-017-0731-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation