Kosanic Aleksandra, Anderson Karen, Harrison Stephan, Turkington Thea, Bennie Jonathan
University of Exeter, Centre for Geography Environment and Society, Penryn Campus, Penryn, United Kingdom.
Ecology Lab (Biology Department), University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
PLoS One. 2018 Feb 5;13(2):e0191021. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0191021. eCollection 2018.
Recent climate change has had a major impact on biodiversity and has altered the geographical distribution of vascular plant species. This trend is visible globally; however, more local and regional scale research is needed to improve understanding of the patterns of change and to develop appropriate conservation strategies that can minimise cultural, health, and economic losses at finer scales. Here we describe a method to manually geo-reference botanical records from a historical herbarium to track changes in the geographical distributions of plant species in West Cornwall (South West England) using both historical (pre-1900) and contemporary (post-1900) distribution records. We also assess the use of Ellenberg and climate indicator values as markers of responses to climate and environmental change. Using these techniques we detect a loss in 19 plant species, with 6 species losing more than 50% of their previous range. Statistical analysis showed that Ellenberg (light, moisture, nitrogen) and climate indicator values (mean January temperature, mean July temperature and mean precipitation) could be used as environmental change indicators. Significantly higher percentages of area lost were detected in species with lower January temperatures, July temperatures, light, and nitrogen values, as well as higher annual precipitation and moisture values. This study highlights the importance of historical records in examining the changes in plant species' geographical distributions. We present a method for manual geo-referencing of such records, and demonstrate how using Ellenberg and climate indicator values as environmental and climate change indicators can contribute towards directing appropriate conservation strategies.
近期的气候变化对生物多样性产生了重大影响，并改变了维管植物物种的地理分布。这种趋势在全球范围内都很明显；然而，需要更多的地方和区域尺度研究，以更好地理解变化模式，并制定适当的保护策略，从而在更精细的尺度上尽量减少文化、健康和经济损失。在此，我们描述了一种方法，通过手动将历史植物标本馆中的植物记录进行地理定位，利用历史（1900年以前）和当代（1900年以后）的分布记录，来追踪英格兰西南部康沃尔郡西部植物物种地理分布的变化。我们还评估了使用埃伦贝格值和气候指标值作为对气候和环境变化响应的标志物的情况。运用这些技术，我们发现有19种植物消失，其中6种植物的分布范围缩小了超过50%。统计分析表明，埃伦贝格值（光照、湿度、氮）和气候指标值（1月平均气温、7月平均气温和平均降水量）可作为环境变化指标。在1月气温、7月气温、光照和氮值较低，以及年降水量和湿度值较高的物种中，检测到显著更高的面积损失百分比。这项研究突出了历史记录在研究植物物种地理分布变化中的重要性。我们提出一种对此类记录进行手动地理定位的方法，并展示了如何将埃伦贝格值和气候指标值用作环境和气候变化指标，有助于指导制定适当的保护策略。
