PARENT SESSION
Poster Session # 22: Late-Breaking Newsworthy Posters

Friday, August 8 Presentation from 8:30 AM to 10:00 AM. SITCC Exhibit Hall B.

Climate driven small scale changes in abundance of an endemic mediterranean-montane species.

Fanelli, Giuliano^*,1, Tescarollo, Paolo¹, ¹ orto botanico Università di Roma La Sapienza, Roma, Italy

ABSTRACT- Leontopodioum nivale (the Apennine Edelweiss) is a rare and scatterd endemic of mountains above 2000 m in central Italy. We studied variation in abundance of this species for three years at three sites in relationships with climate fluctuations. It is shown that variation in the abundance of Leontopodium nivale closely matches variation in average temperature of the vegetative period, with populations decreasing with increasing temperature. Fluctuations are larger in small populations than in larger ones. The study suggests that 1) climate-plant interactions occur at a very fine scale (individuals or small patches of individuals) 2) small populations are threatened by rising temperatures, as could have already happened in a possibly now extinct population in the southern range of the species 3) as long as smaller populations are more sensitive to climate than larger populations, climate change could result in a net loss in biodiversity

Key words: biodiversity hotspot, plant population dynamics, Mediterranean, climate change