Private

FS 3.183

Towards a global assessment of mountain biodiversity

Details

Full Title
FS 3.183: Data and methods for assessing knowledge and trends in mountain biodiversity and ecosystem worldwide
Scheduled
Talks:
2025-09-16, 13:30 - 15:00 (LT), Theologie – HS 1
Convener
Davnah Urbach
Co-Conveners
Mark Snethlage, Antoine Guisan,
Assigned to Synthesis Workshop
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Thematic Focus
Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Others
Keywords
Assessment, Biodiversity

Description

Since the creation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, assessments of ongoing trends in the Earth System and its components have become a key source of scientific information for governments and decision-makers. As of today, no such assessment exists for mountain ecosystems and species. This is the case although both the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Agenda and the targets agreed upon in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework call for reporting on biodiversity protection also in mountains. With a first-of-its-kind global assessment of mountain biodiversity research and trends, the Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment (GMBA) program is filling this gap. By doing so, it takes advantage of the increase in the amount, coverage, and accessibility of mountain biodiversity data, the growing volume of mountain biodiversity literature, developments in text annotation and analysis, and increasingly well-organized communities of experts. This session aims at convening mountain biodiversity scientists involved or interested in mountain biodiversity and ecosystem assessments to

review ongoing chapters of the GMBA global assessment,
present ongoing efforts to collect the data and literature needed for biodiversity assessments, and
discuss conceptual and methodological challenges and opportunities associated with data, literature or survey- based biodiversity assessments, with a focus on detecting and filling gaps in spatial data coverage.

We welcome open data scientists working on text extraction, mining, and annotation methods in biodiversity research, as well as modellers.

Registered Abstracts

ID: 3.10783

Evaluating community patterns of Geometridae moths (Lepidoptera: Heterocera) in the North Western Himalayan region: insights, trends and future research directions

Shabnam Kumari

Uniyal, Virendra Prasad; Chandra, Kailash

Abstract/Description

Mountains offer unique opportunities to investigate diversity patterns and their underlying drivers across elevational gradients. This research aimed to study the species richness, abundance, and distribution patterns of Geometridae moths along the elevational gradient of the Dhauladhar Mountain Range (DMR) in Himachal Pradesh, India, which comprise the North Western Himalayan Biogeographic Province (2A). Field surveys were conducted following a stratified random sampling design, with sampling sites randomly selected across different forest types at every 300 m elevational interval. Geometrid moths were sampled using LepiLED light trap and vertical (chequered) white sheet method at 34 sampling sites during pre- (April–June) and post-monsoon (September–October) seasons, from September 2020 to June 2022. For habitat covariate data, we recorded hourly variations in the selected environmental variables for each light trap session and vegetation data at every sampling location. Results from the analysis revealed a hump-shaped pattern of species richness and diversity along the elevational gradient of DMR, with higher richness and abundance during the post-monsoon season. Beta diversity patterns were primarily driven by species turnover, with environmental filtering being more important at higher elevations. The findings provide the first-ever and most comprehensive baseline data on geometrid moth diversity in the area, emphasize the need for future integrated ecological and evolutionary studies, and highlight the importance of conservation efforts in light of climate change and human-induced land-use changes, particularly in high-altitude habitats.

ID: 3.11905

Earth Observation Potentials for Wildlife Ecology Research in Mountain Regions: A case study about the influence of snow cover on the autumn migration of the Northern Bald Ibis

Helena Wehner

Dietz, Andreas

Abstract/Description

Wildlife is highly adapted to its environment. A unique biodiversity exists in mountain regions, because those areas present special challenges for their inhabitants. Due to the acceleration of climate warming, species struggle to adapt. Studying and monitoring animal species occupying highly affected climatic zones is essential for effective conservation measurements. Satellite-based earth observation data (EO) is of high advantage in areas that are difficult to reach. EO data is collected on large-scale at a regularly basis. The Northern Bald Ibis (NBI) is an endangered migratory bird species, breeding in the northern foothills of the Alps and crossing that mountain range during the autumn migration. A twenty years ongoing project (waldrappteam.at) aims to reintroduce that iconic bird species (Fritz et al., 2017; Drenske et al., 2023). The majority of the NBI population is equipped with GPS transmitters to monitor their habitat use and migratory movement behavior, especially in alpine valleys. A species distribution model was applied to proof the foraging area suitability in the northern Alps (Wehner, Huchler and Fritz, 2022). Even the NBI developed strategies to save energy during migration, especially when passing mountain areas, they seem to struggle crossing the Alps more often (Fritz et al., 2024). In an ongoing case study global daily snow cover data is connected to successful and failed crossing of the European Alps by the NBI. This study emphasizes the potentials of EO for wildlife ecology monitoring in mountain regions and suggests improvements of better interdisciplinary work between EO scientists and ecologist. We believe a promotion in interdisciplinary research could also add information to the Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment (GMBA).

ID: 3.12152

Biodiversity in mountain soils above the treeline

Nadine Praeg

Steinwandter, Michael; Urbach, Davnah; Snethlage, Mark A.; Weber, Bettina; Seeber, Julia; Illmer, Paul

Abstract/Description

Belowground biodiversity in mountain soils has received limited attention, as the heterogeneity and inaccessibility of these ecosystems make their study and the formulation of broad conclusions challenging. Remoteness and considerable variations in soil conditions over short distances further add to these difficulties. Yet, recent years have seen important progress in our understanding of these ecosystems. With our literature review, we provide the first global synthesis of published research on microorganisms, cryptogams, and invertebrate fauna in mountain soils above the treeline.
Drawing from nearly 1,400 publications and the expertise of 37 mountain soil scientists worldwide, we summarized diversity and distribution patterns in alpine soils. Our findings show an elevation-dependent decline in faunal diversity, while cryptogams initially increase before decreasing towards the nival belt. The diversity of prokaryotes shows unpredictable, often site-specific reactions, whereas fungal diversity is closely linked to plant associations. We also identified research hotspots in the European Alps and Central Asia, alongside significant taxonomic gaps, particularly in biocrusts, soil protists, and soil fauna. Our findings further revealed that research on alpine soils primarily focuses on the effects of climate change, land-use change, and pollution.
Finally, we emphasize the need to address spatial, taxonomic, and thematic biases, expand research efforts in understudied regions, and strengthen political commitments and international collaboration to enhance the protection and sustainable management of mountain soils.

ID: 3.12807

Evidence Mapping in Support of a Global Assessment of Mountain Biodiversity

Davnah Urbach

Snethlage, Mark A.

Abstract/Description

Scientific assessments of current knowledge about the Earth System and its components have become essential for planning, implementing, and evaluating environmental policies such as the Global Biodiversity Framework. With the increasing availability and accessibility of mountain biodiversity data and knowledge worldwide, assessments like those carried out by IPCC or IPBES have become possible to fill an urgent gap in our understanding of the state of and trends in mountain biodiversity research, species, and ecosystems. Here and as part of a first-of-its-kind global assessment of mountain biodiversity, we present a novel approach for systematically mapping scientific literature on mountain biodiversity. Our method integrates text mining, pattern recognition, heuristic algorithms, and an expert-validated vocabulary to enrich publications metadata with spatial, taxonomic, and topical information. This approach enables the creation of a richly annotated database, serving as a foundation for both evidence mapping and a global assessment of mountain biodiversity. While the current workflow remains labour-intensive, requiring expert validation to ensure accuracy, it also lays the groundwork for future AI-driven literature exploration. Specifically, our validated dataset will be used to train machine learning models within the MoBiKo project – a Knowledge Graph for Mountain Biodiversity – enhancing automated knowledge extraction and synthesis. By developing this structured, high-quality knowledge base, we aim to support scientific research, policy and conservation efforts, advocacy, as well as investment for mountain biodiversity worldwide.

ID: 3.13336

Rare and vulnerable: Sphagnum-dominated mire changes under climate threats in the Western Alps

Alessandra Pollo

Oddi, Ludovica; Eusebio Bergò, Simone; Siniscalco, Consolata

Abstract/Description

Sphagnum-dominated mires are rare and highly vulnerable ecosystems, particularly at the southern edge of their distribution, where climatic conditions are less favorable. Mires have traditionally been considered relatively stable, exhibiting little to no change in floristic composition over several decades. This research aimed to contribute to challenging this perspective by analysing the changes in Sphagnum-dominated mires in the Western Alps over just a decade. We resurveyed 139 plots across 14 sites, comparing historical data from 1998 and 2011 with new surveys conducted in 2023. Our results revealed significant shifts in plant composition, structure, and ecological conditions over just 12 years, largely driven by climate change. Analysis of climate data confirmed increasing temperatures, declining precipitation, and increasing evaporation across the study sites. Under these climatic trends, an increase in species richness and diversity was observed, particularly in vascular plants. Woody and generalist species expanded at the expense of mire specialists, including Sphagnum species, suggesting both a generalisation of the vegetation and an ongoing drying process. The local extinction of species with the phytosociological optimum in mires was also detected. The impact of climate change was confirmed by the higher increase in species richness in mires that experienced higher decline in precipitation over the past three decades. Beyond these changes observed over just 12 years, long-term resurvey spanning 25 years revealed emerging signs of acidification and eutrophication. Mires at the southern edge of their distribution exhibited climate-driven changes occurring at a much faster rate than natural succession and than the higher-latitude mires previously monitored through resurveys. The rapid decline of mires poses a severe threat to the ecological integrity of these ecosystems, which play a crucial role in carbon sequestration, water regulation, and biodiversity conservation. In particular, the Wester Alps risk losing glacial relict species hosted in the mires. Urgent conservation measures are necessary to mitigate further degradation and preserve the ecosystem services these ecosystems provided.

ID: 3.13480

The effect of forest structure and natural dynamics on species richness a functional biodiversity of saproxylic beetles in the mixed beech dominated primary forests of the Western Carpathians.

Ivo Pardus

Mikoláš, Martin; Ferenčík, Matěj; Kozák, Daniel; Hofmeister, Jan; Markuljaková, Katarína; Dúhová, Daniela; Svoboda, Miroslav

Abstract/Description

In today’s intensively exploited landscapes, primeval forests have been kept to a minimum and represent the last refuge for countless forest-dependent species. In particular, due to the small extent of primeval forests and their inaccessibility, our knowledge of understanding forest community dynamics is limited but crucial for setting up effective conservation of forest biodiversity.

Saproxylic beetles are a species-rich group that have become widely used for the purposes of bioindication. The abundance of rare and endangered species provides reliable information on the condition of the forest ecosystem. Saproxylic beetles are, therefore, an ideal group for understanding the relationships between the dynamics, structure and biodiversity of natural forests.

For this purpose, 60 research plots were established in eight of the best preserved forests in the Western Carpathians. In each research plot, data on forest structure and dendrochronological data was collected together with information on the occurrence of saproxylic beetles, which was collected using traps. There was significant variation identified among the individual primeval forest sites, however, most sites had large volumes of dead wood, averaging 171 m3.ha-1.

Characteristics such as the diameter of the five oldest trees, the volume of standing dead trees, the total number of live trees with a diameter at height ≥ 6 cm and others in the study plot were used to understand the relationship between forest structure and saproxylic beetle diversity.

The results show that strict protection of forests and supporting their natural dynamics are some of the most important factors for biodiversity conservation in montane mixed forests in temperate climate zones.

ID: 3.13798

Lags and non-linearities in climate change impacts on alpine plants and vegetation, as revealed by whole-community transplant experiments

Vigdis Vandvik

Alexander, Jake; Bektas, Billur; Lynn, Josh; Wasner, Daniel; Halbritter, Aud

Abstract/Description

The speed with which climate change alters biodiversity through range expansions and local extinctions underlines the urgent need for robust approaches to assess species and community vulnerability. If we are to predict the rate and trajectory of plant and community responses to climate change we need experiments that can unravel the processes that underlie ecological responses to a changing climate. Many experiments miss key processes of community change, however, such as the colonization by novel, warm adapted species, and also don’t set-up clear baseline expectations against which to compare the rate and direction of species responses and community change. One approach that allows explicitly tackling these challenges is whole-community transplant experiments, whereby whole communities (or turfs) are transplanted from higher to lower elevation sites in mountains, exposing them simultaneously to the abiotic effects of a warmer climate and to the biotic effects of invasion by low-elevation species. Here we present a synthesis of such 44 turf transplant experiments from throughout the northern hemisphere, and assess and explore both consistent responses across sites and context-dependencies in plant, vegetation, and soil community responses. At the species level, we found consistent performance optima for species approximately 5C cooler than their range centre, suggesting that current species distributions are lagging from contemporary and historical climate changes. Non-linear trajectories of community change revealed both substantial time-lags and deviations from convergence towards the low elevation community composition expected based on “space-for-time” predictions. These findings imply that novel community compositions might develop and persist for long periods as climates warm. Our approach provides a useful tool to identify which species and communities are most vulnerable to biotic and abiotic consequences of climate change. This will be crucial for managing biodiversity and ecosystem function with further climate change.

FS 3.182: Tackling Crises and Building Resilience for a Sustainable Hindu Kush Himalaya Region

FS 3.184: Innovative approaches and interdisciplinary perspectives. Investigating systemic risks and cascade hazards in mountain regions

#IMC: September 14 - 18 2025

FS 3.183

Towards a global assessment of mountain biodiversity

Details

Full Title

Scheduled

Convener

Co-Conveners

Assigned to Synthesis Workshop

Thematic Focus

Keywords

Description

Registered Abstracts

Abstract/Description

Abstract/Description

Abstract/Description

Abstract/Description

Abstract/Description

Abstract/Description

Abstract/Description

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