Conservation of biodiversity may in the future increasingly depend upon the availability of scientific information to set suitable restoration targets. In traditional paleoecology, sediment-based pollen provides a means to define preanthropogenic impact conditions, but problems in establishing the exact provenance and ecologically meaningful levels of taxonomic resolution of the evidence are li...

Aim To forecast the responses of alpine flora to the expected upward shift of treeline ecotones due to climatic warming, we investigated species richness patterns of vascular plants at small spatial scales across elevational transects. Location Richness patterns were assessed at local scales along the elevational gradient in two undisturbed treeline ecotones and one disturbed treeline ecotone i...

Climate change during the Quaternary played an important role in the differentiation and evolution of plants. A prevailing hypothesis is that alpine and arctic species survived glacial periods in refugia at the periphery of glaciers. Though the Rocky Mountains, south of the southernmost extent of continental ice, served as an important glacial refuge, little is known about how climate cycles in...

To expand on the biodiversity study of the eastern Alpine region of North Tyrol, we investigated silica-scaled chrysophyte flora of unexplored high-altitude Alpine sites. We concentrated mostly on lakes that were 1000-2500 m above sea level; some of them were still partly ice covered. Overall, 27 taxa were recorded at 12 sites, despite 21 sites being sampled altogether. In general, the sites we...

Plant radiations are widespread but their influence on community assembly has rarely been investigated. Theory and some evidence suggest that radiations can allow lineages to monopolize niche space when founding species arrive early into new bioclimatic regions and exploit ecological opportunities. These early radiations may subsequently reduce niche availability and dampen diversification of l...

32 (Paleo-)climatologists are challenged to identify mechanisms that cause the 33 observed abrupt Holocene monsoon events despite the fact that monsoonal 34 circulation is assumed to be driven by gradual insolation changes. Here we provide 35 proxy and model evidence to show that moisture-advection feedback can lead to a 36 non-linear relationship between sea-surface and continental temperature...

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