Diurnal temperature range as a key predictor of plants’ elevation ranges globally

Gallou, Arnaud; Jump, Alistair S.; Lynn, Joshua S.; Field, Richard; Irl, Severin D. H.; Steinbauer, Manuel J.; Beierkuhnlein, Carl; Chen, Jan-Chang; Chou, Chang-Hung; Hemp, Andreas; Kidane, Yohannes; König, Christian; Kreft, Holger; Naqinezhad, Alireza; Nowak, Arkadiusz; Nuppenau, Jan-Niklas; Trigas, Panayiotis; Price, Jonathan P.; Roland, Carl A.; Schweiger, Andreas H.; Weigelt, Patrick; Flantua, Suzette G. A.; Grytnes, John-Arvid

Abstract

A prominent hypothesis in ecology is that larger species ranges are found in more variable climates because species develop broader environmental tolerances, predicting a positive range size-temperature variability relationship. However, this overlooks the extreme temperatures that variable climates impose on species, with upper or lower thermal limits more likely to be exceeded. Accordingly, we propose the ‘temperature range squeeze’ hypothesis, predicting a negative range size-temperature variability relationship. We test these contrasting predictions by relating 88,000 elevation range sizes of vascular plants in 44 mountains to short- and long-term temperature variation. Consistent with our hypothesis, we find that species’ range size is negatively correlated with diurnal temperature range. Accurate predictions of short-term temperature variation will become increasingly important for extinction risk assessment in the future.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 10, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Nov 30, 2023
• Publication Date: Nov 30, 2023
• Deposit Date: Feb 9, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 12, 2024
• Journal: Nature Communications
• Electronic ISSN: 2041-1723
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 7890
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43477-8
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/27874455
• Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43477-8