Studie aus der Fachzeitschrift Nature, 4.10.2024 (engl. Original)
The spatial patterns of greening observed are consistent with our understanding of the modern distribution of moss-dominated ecosystems across the AP, suggesting that these trends are being driven by increased productivity, vigour and lateral expansion of existing vegetation. This echoes observations made of similar ecosystems across the high Arctic and in mountainous areas under climate change and reflects wider global patterns of greening in cold-climate ecosystems in response to recent warming. Global modelling work - not yet extended to the AP - identifies a widespread decline over recent decades in the area of land where vegetation is limited by temperature. This is expected to continue under future warming scenarios and result in widespread greening in cold regions. If this anticipated trend extends to the AP, as our findings suggest is likely, it would have implications for the long-term functioning of the peninsula’s terrestrial ecosystems. (…)
Native vascular plants are already demonstrating range expansions across the AP, but questions remain over the role that lateral expansion of moss ecosystems, longer-distance and bare-rock colonization by mosses and any associated soil formation, may play in providing a vector for further ecological translocation of vascular plants, including non-native, potentially invasive species - the threat of which is increasingly recognized.
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