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Climate change is projected to have important impacts on snow and vegetation distribution in global mountains. Despite this, the coupling of ecological shifts and hydrological processes within alpine zones has not attracted significant scientific attention. As the largest and one of the most climatically sensitive mountain systems, we argue that Himalayan alpine ecohydrological processes require urgent scientific attention because up to 1.6 billion people rely on water supplies from the mountains. We review studies from global mountain systems to highlight the importance of considering ecohydrological impacts within Himalayan alpine zones (4100–6000 m.a.s.l), explaining mechanisms for interactions between snow and dwarf plants. Our findings highlight the paucity of monitoring stations within Himalayan alpine systems. We suggest that it is likely that alpine ecological shifts will impact hydrological processes, but we found that specific mechanisms and functional relationships are missing for Himalayan systems, so the strength and direction of ecohydrological relationships is currently unknown. We advocate for more purposeful and widespread monitoring efforts below glaciers and above the treeline, calling for new experiments to query the role of small plants within the Himalayan alpine hydrological system. We outline the need for community engagement with alpine ecohydrological experiments, and we explain how new snow and vegetation products derived from remote sensing observations have the potential to improve scientific understanding of the interacting effects of warming and ecohydrological factors in this sensitive region.

New Zealand faces significant ecological problems caused by the introduction of a variety of invasive small mammal species. Many of these species originate from temperate to subarctic climates and occur across wide elevations in their native range, and so arrived predisposed to adapt to a variety of habitats and bioclimatic zones in their new environs, including the alpine zone. Almost all of New Zealand’s invasive small mammal species have been recorded in the country’s alpine zones, yet neither the altitudinal distribution nor the extent to which such species use high elevation areas has been clearly defined. We conducted extensive camera trap surveys in summer to autumn periods of 2019 and 2020 across an elevation range of 500–2250 m above sea level, and used detection rates and occupancy modelling to reveal the altitudinal distributions and habitat associations of all 10 invasive small mammals that occur in the dryland zone of the central South Island. We found altitudinal distributions varied greatly across species, and that while most exhibited decreasing detection rates and site occupancy probabilities with increasing elevation, some used the subalpine and alpine zones to a greater degree than adjacent lower elevations. There were clear habitat associations, as well as interspecific associations that helped to explain the altitudinal distribution of some species. Understanding how such factors influence the distribution of invasive small mammals has both broad implications for invasive species management, and direct applications in evaluating threats to native taxa, advancing management strategies, and benchmarking distributions in a changing climate.

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) stoichiometry have significant effects on nutrient cycles in terrestrial ecosystems. However, our understanding of the patterns and the driving factors of soil N:P ratios in the Tibetan Plateau shrublands remains limited. Our study aimed to quantify the distribution of soil N:P ratio and its controlling factors based on soil, plant, and climate factors from 59 sites in shrublands across the northeast Tibetan Plateau. The kriging interpolation method was used to quantify the soil N:P distribution. Spatially, the soil N:P ratio was higher in the south than in the north and lower in the west than in the east. The soil N:P ratio in the northeast Tibetan Plateau shrublands was mainly explained by edaphic factors, which also played an important role in regulating the effects of plant and climate factors on soil N:P ratios. Mean annual precipitation, instead of mean annual temperature, significantly controlled the soil N:P ratios, and its effect on the pattern of soil N:P ratios differed between alpine shrublands and desert shrublands. The N:P ratios of different organs in shrublands also played different roles in shaping the soil N:P ratios in alpine and desert shrublands. These results provide support for the hypothesis that edaphic factors were the dominant drivers of spatial variation in soil N:P ratios across the northeast Tibetan Plateau shrublands, and our study contributes to a deeper understanding of biogeochemical cycling at high altitudes.

Botanical explorations in the alpine zone of the Shahvar and Shah Kouh Mountains from Semnan and Golestan Provinces (northeastern Iran) led to the collection of interesting specimens of the genus Silene L. (Caryophyllaceae). Taxonomic study of these plants and comparison with determined plant specimens showed that the specimens belong to an unknown species. I describe it as S. aminiradii Gholipour, belonging to section Auriculatae (Boiss.) Schischk. from northeastern Iran. The new species is compared with S. lucida Chowdhuri and S. crispans Litv. as the most similar species. Silene aminiradii is a caespitose perennial alpine gynodioecious plant with prostrate stems covered with dense, retrorsely simple hairs. The distribution, ecological features, reproductive phenology, and photos of S. aminiradii are presented.

Introduction: The Hindu-Himalayan region, a global biodiversity, hotspot harbors numerus endemic plant species that contribute significantly to ecosystem stability. Among these, Iris hookeriana, an endemic perennial herb, thrives in the subalpine and alpine zones of the Hindu-Himalayas. The study aimed to assess the population dynamics of Iris hookeriana, assesses the primary threats to its survival, and explores its ecological associations along with with indicator species.Methods: Fieldwork was conducted across 35 distinct sites, at the elevation range of 2,500 m–3,900 m above sea level. A random stratified sampling method using quadrats, was employed to assess both qualitative and quantitative plant characteristics. Edaphic, topographic, geographic coordinates, and elevation Global Positioning System (GPS) data were recorded on each sampling site. Plant species associations were analyzed using 5 m2 × 5 m2 quadrat for shrubs and 1 m2 × 1 m2 quadrat for herbaceous vegetation. The relationships between species composition and environmental variables were analyzed via Statistical analyses, including Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA), Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA), Two-Way Cluster Analysis (TWCA), and Indicator Species Analysis (ISA), were conducted using PCORD version 5.0.Results: Seventy associated plant species from 26 families were identified across 35 sampling sites, revealing four major plant associations: (1) Arenaria-Viola association, (2) Nepeta-Oxytropis association, (3) Phlomis-Prunella association, and (4) Bistorta-Carex association. These associations exhibited significant correlations (p < 0.05). The identification of these four novel plant associations provides a crucial baseline for understanding the ecological dynamics of the subalpine and alpine ecosystems. The study emphasizes the significant role of environmental factors i.e., altitude, organic matter, pH, humidity, total dissolved solid, electrical conductivity, nitrogen, phosphorus, silt, and clay content in shaping the Iris hookeriana population within the subalpine and alpine zone of Hindu-Himalayan Mountains.Discussion: The findings show that indicator species and plant associations vary with changing environmental conditions, providing valuable insights for sustainable biodiversity management in subalpine and alpine ecosystems of the Hindu-Himalayan mountains.

This study focused on testing the response of the assimilation apparatus of evergreen Pinaceae species to increasing levels of oxidative stress simulated in manipulative experiments. Needles were collected from mature individuals of Pinus mugo , Pinus cembra , Pinus sylvestris , Abies alba , and Picea abies at the foothill (FH) and alpine treeline ecotone (ATE) in the High Tatras (Western Carpathians). The injury index (INX), quantified by the modified electrolyte leakage (EL) method, indicated severe needle damage due to exposure to extremely high levels of O 3 . Ozonation induced changes in the chemical composition of the needles, which were detected via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The oxidative stability (OxS) indicator derived from INXs was used to determine the stomatal O 3 flux-based critical level CL(OxS), with the threshold value of OxS at -0.05, corresponding to 5% injury to the needles. Assessment of the phytotoxic ozone dose (POD0) under ambient O 3 and field environmental conditions during the 2023 growing season via CL(OxS) revealed that the studied species utilised between 18% ( Abies alba FH) and 33% ( Pinus mugo ATE) of their O 3 tolerance potential. These results support our hypothesis that Pinaceae species growing in the High Tatras, which are part of the Alpine biogeographical region of Eastern Central Europe, are vulnerable to O 3 concentrations significantly higher than the typical ambient O 3 level in the natural environment.

Understanding the key aspects of plant regeneration from seeds is crucial in assessing species assembly to their habitats. However, the regenerative traits of seed dormancy and germination are underrepresented in this context. In the alpine zone, the large species and microhabitat diversity provide an ideal context to assess habitat‐related regenerative strategies. To this end, seeds of 53 species growing in alpine siliceous and calcareous habitats (6230 and 6170 of EU Directive 92/43, respectively) were exposed to different temperature treatments under controlled laboratory conditions. Germination strategies in each habitat were identified by clustering with k‐means. Then, phylogenetic least squares correlations (PGLS) were fitted to assess germination and dormancy differences between species’ main habitat (calcareous and siliceous), microhabitat (grasslands, heaths, rocky, and species with no specific microhabitats), and chorology (arctic–alpine and continental). Calcareous and siliceous grasslands significantly differ in their germination behaviour with a slow, mostly overwinter germination and high germination under all conditions, respectively. Species with high overwinter germination occurs mostly in heaths and have an arctic–alpine distribution. Meanwhile, species with low or high germinability in general inhabit in grasslands or have no specific microhabitat (they belong to generalist), respectively. Alpine species use different germination strategies depending on habitat provenance, species’ main microhabitat, and chorotype. Such differences may reflect adaptations to local environmental conditions and highlight the functional role of germination and dormancy in community ecology. Germination traits and strategies of 53 species inhabiting in two main alpine habitats were assessed. Our main outputs show specific habitat regenerative strategies which may reflect adaptations to local environmental conditions and highlight the functional role of germination traits and dormancy in community ecology.

The artificial young forest is an important component of ecosystems, and biomass models are important for estimating the carbon storage of ecosystems. However, research on biomass models of the young forest is lacking. In this study, biomass data of 96 saplings of three tree species from the southern foot of the Qilian Mountains were collected. These data, coupled with allometric growth equations and the nonlinear joint estimation method, were used to establish independent, component-additive, and total-control compatible models to estimate the biomass of artificial young wood of Picea crassifolia (Picea crassifolia Kom.), Sabina przewalskii (Sabina przewalskii Kom.), and Pinus tabulaeformis (Pinus tabuliformis Carr.). The distribution characteristics of the biomass components (branch, leaf, trunk, and root biomass) and the goodness of fit of the models were also analyzed. The results showed that (1) the multiple regression models with two independent variables (MRWTIV) were superior to the univariate models for all three tree species. Base diameter was the best-fitting variable of the univariate model for Picea crassifolia and Pinus tabulaeformis, and the addition of base diameter and crown diameter as variables to the MRWTIV can significantly improve model accuracy. Tree height was the best-fitting variable of the univariate model of Sabina przewalskii, and the addition of tree height and crown diameter to the MRWTIV can significantly improve model accuracy; (2) the two independent variable component-additive compatible model was the best-fitting biomass model. The compatible models constructed by the nonlinear joint estimation method were less accurate than the independent models. However, they maintained good compatibility among the biomass components and enabled more robust estimates of regional biomass; and (3) for the young wood of Picea crassifolia, Sabina przewalskii, and Pinus tabulaeformis, the aboveground biomass ratio of each component to total biomass was highest for leaf biomass (26%–68%), followed by branch (10%–46%) and trunk (11%–55%) biomass, and the aboveground biomass was higher than the underground biomass. In conclusion, the optimal biomass model of artificial young forest at the sampling site is a multivariate component-additive compatible biomass model. It can well estimate the biomass of young forest and provide a basis for future research.

The Japanese serow ( Capricornis crispus ) exhibits spatial behavior adapted to forest habitats with relatively stable food supply and climatic conditions, such as sedentary habits, small home ranges, and little seasonal variation in habitat selection. However, investigations have not previously been conducted in open mountainous habitats with high seasonal variability. Therefore, I examined spatial behavior of the Japanese serow in an open mountainous region of Mt. Fuji, central Japan, based on GPS location data. These mountain-dwelling serows had much larger annual home ranges (female: 316.5 ha, male: 373.1 ha) compared with forest-dwelling populations. Spring and summer home range sizes were the largest, and winter home range size was the smallest, ranging from 20.3%–56.1% of maximum. Limited forage and harsh climatic conditions in winter seemed to drive such energy-minimizing behavioral strategies. Selection of vegetation types and elevation varied seasonally, likely because of changes in forage availability and climate conditions. These spatial behaviors in mountain-dwelling serows resemble those of several related mountain ungulates, implying that these behaviors are adaptations to highly seasonal open mountainous habitats. My findings suggest that the main factors affecting spatial behavior are habitat characteristics, such as climate, forage abundance, and seasonality. These findings provide support for an ecological pattern in ungulate spatial behavior whereby closed habitats promote small and stable home ranges, whereas open habitats promote large and seasonally fluctuating home ranges.