Department of Ecology, University of Szeged, Közép fasor 52, H-6726, Szeged, Hungary.
Department of Botany, Eszterházy Károly University of Applied Sciences, Eszterházy tér 1, H-3300, Eger, Hungary.
Sci Rep. 2019 May 9;9(1):7176. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-43603-x.
Fine-scale topographic complexity creates important microclimates that can facilitate species to grow outside their main distributional range and increase biodiversity locally. Enclosed depressions in karst landscapes ('dolines') are topographically complex environments which produce microclimates that are drier and warmer (equator-facing slopes) and cooler and moister (pole-facing slopes and depression bottoms) than the surrounding climate. We show that the distribution patterns of functional groups for organisms in two different phyla, Arthropoda (ants) and Tracheophyta (vascular plants), mirror this variation of microclimate. We found that north-facing slopes and bottoms of solution dolines in northern Hungary provided key habitats for ant and plant species associated with cooler and/or moister conditions. Contrarily, south-facing slopes of dolines provided key habitats for species associated with warmer and/or drier conditions. Species occurring on the surrounding plateau were associated with intermediate conditions. We conclude that karst dolines provide a diversity of microclimatic habitats that may facilitate the persistence of taxa with diverse environmental preferences, indicating these dolines to be potential safe havens for multiple phyla under local and global climate oscillations.
精细的地形复杂性创造了重要的小气候，使物种能够在其主要分布范围之外生长，并在当地增加生物多样性。岩溶景观中的封闭洼地（“溶斗”）是地形复杂的环境，会产生比周围气候更干燥、温暖（面向赤道的斜坡）和凉爽、潮湿（面向极地的斜坡和洼地底部）的小气候。我们表明，两个不同门的生物体的功能组的分布模式，节肢动物（蚂蚁）和维管植物（维管植物），反映了这种小气候的变化。我们发现，匈牙利北部的背阴斜坡和溶斗底部为与较凉爽和/或更潮湿条件相关的蚂蚁和植物物种提供了关键栖息地。相反，溶斗的向阳斜坡为与较温暖和/或较干燥条件相关的物种提供了关键栖息地。出现在周围高原上的物种与中间条件有关。我们得出的结论是，岩溶溶斗提供了多种小气候生境，这可能有助于具有不同环境偏好的类群的生存，表明这些溶斗在当地和全球气候波动下是多个门的潜在安全避难所。
