Effects of climate change on alpine plant species at Finse, Southern Norway

The issue of climate change is one of the most discussed topics on Earth. The Earth is warming up and that is expected to continue in future. Alpine vegetation has already been affected by climate warming and has already shown responses. This study examined the effects of elevated temperature on individual functional traits. Because the temperature seems to be a crucial indicator of future existence and diversity of alpine plant community, I assessed how the functional traits of 10 selected plant species responded to enhanced temperature and evaluated which of these functional traits act as more important in comparison to others. Open-top chambers (OTCs) were used to simulate climate warming and selected functional traits were measured, elaborated and evaluated. The most of species showed a significant increase in height under simulated warming suggesting that this functional trait may be the most plastic. Carex capillaris, Thalictrum alpinum, Antennaria dioica and Festuca vivipara responded most strongly to experimental warming by significant difference in height in OTCs plots compared to control (C) plots. Carex capillaris responded the most to simulated climate warming in OTCs plots showing in addition to the height, a significant increase in both length of the longest leaf and leaf area. Grasses Carex capillaris and Festuca vivipara showed a significant increase in height under simulated warming in contrast to Luzula spicata belonging to graminoids also, suggesting the findings from previous studies that not all species within a functional type will respond to warmer temperature similarly