This study provides the first documentation of petrifying (tufa-forming) springs in Cyprus and describes their floristic composition and habitat classification in detail. Field surveys conducted in 2024–2025 identified six active tufa-forming sites across five catchments in the southwestern part of Cyprus. Each locality exhibited alkaline, calcium-rich waters and ongoing precipitation of calcium carbonate. Vegetation analysis revealed consistent assignment of the recorded plant assemblages to the association Eucladio–Adiantetum (alliance Adiantion, class Adiantetea), dominated by the diagnostic species Eucladium verticillatum and Adiantum capillus-veneris. Based on indicator species and structural attributes, this vegetation type corresponds to EUNIS habitat H3.41 (U3D) “Mediterranean wet inland cliffs” and meets the criteria for the description of the EU priority habitat type 7220* “Petrifying springs with tufa formation (Cratoneurion)”. This represents the first evidence of this rare groundwater-dependent habitat on the island and provides baseline data for its biogeographic characterization and conservation assessment.

Springs are biodiversity hotspots and climate refugia, yet they remain among the most overlooked and threatened freshwater ecosystems, largely absent from regional monitoring programs. In the Emilia-Romagna Region (Northern Apennines, Italy), where more than 8400 springs are documented but most persist as unmonitored “ghost springs”, we developed and tested an ecohydrogeological framework to support their long-term monitoring and conservation. Twenty-five springs were selected as representatives of five strategic zones, which we identify, defined by aquifer type (Ophiolites, Turbiditic Sandstones, Shallow Marine Sandstones, Triassic Gypsum, and lowland Fontanili) and characterized through integrated hydrogeological, hydrochemical, and biological sampling. Benthic diatoms (393 species in 69 genera) growing on three different substrates (epibryon, epilithon and epipelon) per spring, vegetation, and physical and chemical parameters were analyzed. Diatom assemblage composition differed significantly among zones (PERMANOVA, p < 0.001), structured primarily by electrical conductivity between sites (community level) and by discharge regime between substrates (microhabitat level); the proportion of aerial diatoms (88 species) proved a useful indicator of discharge fluctuations, inferable from a single biological sample. Threatened taxa (41% of evaluated species) concentrated in the ridge zones. Although calibrated in the Northern Apennines, the five-zone framework offers a biologically validated and transferable tool to other regions for spring conservation as sentinel ecosystems under climate change and anthropogenic exploitation.

In this contribution, new data concerning algae, bryophytes, fungi and lichens of the Italian flora are presented. It includes new record and confirmations for the algal genera Chara, Closterium, and Ulva, the bryophyte genera Buxbaumia, Campylopus, Crossidium, Cryphaea, Dicranella, Dicranum, Flexitrichum, Geheebia, Grimmia, Lewinskya, Ptychostomum, Riccia, Schistidium, and Taxiphyllum, the fungal genera Clavaria, Inocybe, Lepiota, Phacopsis, Phloeomana, Tremella, and Zyzygomyces, and the lichen genera Anema, Bagliettoa, Cladonia, Gyalecta, Lepraria, Phaeophyscia, Polyblastia, Porina, Psilolechia, Scytinium, Swinscowia, Synalissina, and Thyrea.

In this contribution, new data concerning algae, bryophytes, fungi and lichens of the Italian flora are presented. It includes new records, confirmations or exclusions for the algal genera Chara, Hildenbrandia, Pleurotaenium, and Spirogyra, the bryophyte genera Braunia, Buxbaumia, Crossidium, Dicranum, Flexitrichum, Tortella and Ulota, the fungal genera Agaricus, Coltricia, Cortinarius, Gliophorus, Leucocoprinus, Leucotelium, Microbotryum, Phaeocalicium, Phragmidium, and Polycoccum, and the lichen genera Anisomeridium, Arthonia, Chaenotheca, Cladonia, Graphis, Leptochidium, Melanelia, Rinodina, Scoliciosporum, Synalissa, Toninia and Trapelia.

Peatland is a major carbon (C) sink, sequestering more atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) than any other terrestrial ecosystem. Peatlands, and especially bogs, are typically nutrient-poor environments, extremely sensitive to increases in nitrogen (N) deposition. In fact, increasing N content often causes a shift from a moss- to a vascular-plant-dominated vegetation resulting in lower C sequestration rates and/or mobilization of N and C stored in peat by promoting microbial activity. Peatlands are also very selective environments (sub-oxic to anoxic conditions, acidic pH, low N), and thus important habitats for nature conservation because of the occurrence of specifically adapted organisms. Peatlands cover ca. 3% of the world’s land surface but Europe lost >60% of this habitat type in the last decades. Moreover, in Italy they are in a marginal position from the phytogeographical standpoint. Cattle grazing and trampling is a cause of peatland degradation resulting in peat compaction, shift in plant and microbial community composition, and N inputs in form of excreta. In Alpine peatlands overgrazing has been identified as a main problem for habitat integrity and biodiversity. In the present work, 50-cm deep Belarus cores were collected from the Canton di Ritorto peatland (Adamello-Brenta Nature Park, Trentino, Italy) along a grazing-induced disturbance gradient. The study site has a bog-like vegetation; common species are Pinus mugo, Carex pauciflora, C. echinata, Eriophorum vaginatum, Vaccinium uliginosum, and many Sphagnum species including S. capillifolium, S. medium, S. subfulvum, S. subnites. Peat thickness ranges between 40-160 cm, while electrical conductivity and pH at the surface range between 10-31 µS/cm and 4.0-5.2, respectively. Cores were cut frozen into 3-cm sections, and analysed for bulk density, water and ash content, and elemental composition (C, N and S). Moreover, diatom taphocoenoses were studied in two peat cores (i.e., the most affected by grazing and the control), investigating alternate slices (i.e., at 6-cm resolution). Diatoms were prepared using hot hydrogen peroxide and/or muffling, and finally embedded in the Naphrax© resin to produce permanent mounts for identifications and counts. The whole procedure was kept quantitative to allow not only the assessment of the per cent composition of taphocoenoses, but also the calculation of absolute abundances (N-valves/g-peat-dw). Preliminary data show that small-scale grazing significantly lowered water content (by 5-10%) and gravimetric water content (by 30-50%), and increased bulk density (1.5-2.2x) compared to the control. Moreover, N concentration was 2-to-3 times higher in grazing-affected sites. Differences between cores affected by grazing and the control were evident in the top 20 cm, whereas no significant differences were observed below 30 cm of depth. More than 80 diatom species were identified throughout the two cores. Several of these are included in threat categories of the Red List for central Europe, and we could also identify a putative species new to science, which is being characterized and described. Some species that tolerate moderate nutrient enrichment were found in the core at the "grazed" extreme of the gradient, whilst several species sensitive to organic pollution were detected only (or were clearly more frequent) in the control.

ABSTRACTRiver regulation due to dams and other intake structures has impacted the hydrology, water quality and biology of rivers worldwide. The release of minimum flows still represents the strategy aimed at maintaining certain aspects of the original flow patterns. However, there remains a limited understanding of the consequences of artificially induced flows on water quality and aquatic life across various types of rivers. This study was conducted in Trentino (south‐eastern Alps, Italy) in 60 perennial river reaches (400–2005 m a.s.l.), all located downstream of water abstractions for different hydropower plants. The main goal of this research was to compare the effect of different residual flows on macroinvertebrates and diatoms. The overall effect of discharge was low but still significant only for macroinvertebrates, whereas diatoms were affected mostly by the water chemistry. Both groups responded to the substrate composition and to the hydromorphology, which in turn resulted to be strongly correlated. The biotic indices, originally developed to respond to pollution, were unaffected by the flow reduction, raising concerns about the potential consequences that assessment based on this approach may have on the evaluation of ecological flow. This study emphasizes the importance of considering the broader ecological context in which flow alterations occur, particularly the interaction of hydromorphology and substrate, in understanding their impact on aquatic biota.

In this study, we focused on the bedrock-dependent effects of climate change on terricolous lichen communities along elevational gradients in the Alps. In particular, we contrasted between carbonatic and siliceous bedrock, hypothesizing more favourable conditions on siliceous than on carbonatic bedrock, where dryer conditions may exacerbate the effects of climate change. To test this hypothesis, we compared terricolous lichen diversity patterns between the two bedrock types in terms of (1) species richness, (2) beta-diversity, (3) proportion of cryophilous species, and (4) functional diversity, also testing the effect of the elevational gradient as a proxy for expected climate warming. Our results indicate that the most cold-adapted part of the terricolus lichen biota of the Alps could be especially threatened in the near future, mainly on carbonatic bedrock. Actually, contrasting diversity patterns were found between carbonatic and siliceous bedrock, clearly revealing a bedrock-dependent effect of climate change on terricolous lichens of the Alps. As hypothesized, siliceous bedrock hosts a richer lichen biota than carbonatic bedrock, reflecting a general richness pattern at the national level. In general, siliceous bedrock seems to be less prone to rapid pauperization of its lichen biota, providing more suitable climatic refugia that can mitigate the effects of climate warming on terricolous lichens.

Given the limited understanding of species diversity and ecological preferences of diatoms of the genus Navicula in spring ecosystems, herein we present and describe as species new to science, Navicula aquaesuavis Lange-Bert., Levkov, Cid-Rodríguez, A.A.Saber and Cantonati sp. nov. This species was collected from a mountain spring located above the tree line at 1613 m a.s.l. in the Northern Apennines. The Fontana del Vescovo (Bishop’s spring), which is the locus classicus of the new species, has a low conductivity (60–70 µS cm−1), temperature of ca. 5 °C, circumneutral pH (7.3–7.5), relatively low nitrate (ca. 1 mg L−1), and also suffered from a discharge reduction from 1 to 0.1 L s−1 from 2011 to 2023. The putative new species was confirmed by a second finding in Northern Macedonia, and we thoroughly document this second population as well. We seized the opportunity to describe this new Navicula and review the global literature on the diatom genus Navicula in spring ecosystems. Using the results of this review and our own databases on springs and wells in central Europe and Egypt, we discuss the main Navicula species and their environmental preferences in spring habitats.

In this contribution, new data concerning algae, bryophytes, fungi and lichens of the Italian flora are presented. It includes new records and confirmations for the algal genera Acetabularia , Nitella , and Nitellopsis for the bryophyte genera Drepanocladus , Fissidens , Hookeria , and Weissia , the fungal genera Alnicola , Arthonia , Cortinarius, Inocybe , Leucoagaricus , Neohygrocybe , and Puccinia and the lichen genera Bacidina , Chaenotheca , Flavoplaca , Gyalecta , Heterodermia , Rinodina , Scytinium , and Squamarina .

The invasive tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus is a serious nuisance for people due to its biting and potential for disease transmission, even in Italian mountain regions. In this work, we examined its occurrence dynamic from the first invasion in two Alpine cities, Rovereto and Trento, only 25 km apart. Mosquito's distribution was assessed using ovitraps, from mid-May to end-October, from its first reported occurrence, i.e. 2001 in Rovereto and 2010 in Trento. In both cities, ovitraps were located in seven habitat types: gathering places, residential areas, urban parks, car parks, near watercourses, industrial areas and croplands. The annual average temperature and precipitation were similar in the two cities from 2001 to 2020. We had hypothesized that the seasonal and annual differences in egg number between both cities would be limited. Significant linear and positive relationship was found between the average number of eggs and air temperature in both the cities, but with a steeper slope in Trento. In addition, the average number of eggs per ovitrap was higher in Trento than in Rovereto (average 50.3 vs 14.2). None of the considered risk factors (climate, habitat type) explained such difference in abundance between cities. Indeed, based on the temperature, the expectation was to find fewer eggs in Trento being cooler than Rovereto during 2010-2020 (the average in the period of activated traps was, respectively, 19.2 vs 19.7 degrees C). Thus, we argue that other anthropogenic factors, such as different control activities (adulticide treatments were carried out solely in Rovereto), might explain the difference in egg abundance found between cities. A specific experimental design to evaluate treatment effect might validate our hypothesis (e.g. apply adulticides during the surveillance period, with treatments applied at regular distances from the ovitraps and with a specific periodicity to compare adult and egg abundance).

As a follow-up to the project “Springs in the Bavarian National Parks as Indicators of Climate Change (SpringNPB)”, a standard methodology for using springs as sentinel environments of climate change was transferred to the UNESCO Rhön Biosphere Reserve and other Bavarian middle-elevation mountain ranges. We studied diatoms from fifteen springs selected in the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve (9) and Steigerwald Nature Park (6). A total of 127 species belonging to 40 genera were found sampling 3 microhabitat types (lithic materials, hygrophilous or aquatic vegetation, and surface sediments). The cumulative percentage of endangered species according to the Red List was 41.5%. These very shaded, low–medium conductivity, low-discharge forest springs are fed by small surficial aquifers. As a consequence, the discharge fluctuates widely, and some springs even occasionally fall dry. Our results could contribute to the use of diatoms as indicators of discharge variability/desiccation in springs: springs affected by discharge variability have lower diatom species richness and distinct diatom communities; diatom indicators and metrics can be validated using invertebrates; larger databases will be necessary to identify the most suitable diatom indicators.

The class Montio-Cardaminetea includes vegetation of springs with constant water flow. These habitats, which function as islands for highly specialized and sensitive biota, are endangered by ongoing landscape and climatic changes. Although a harmonized classification into vegetation units is necessary for effective habitat conservation, there is currently no synthetic classification of the class Montio-Cardaminetea. Here a large set of vegetation-plot records was obtained from national and private databases. The aim was to validate the EuroVegChecklist classification scheme, search for additional ecologically meaningful vegetation types and develop an automatic system for classifying new plots from Europe. We formally defined the cores of eight of the ten EuroVegChecklist alliances: Caricion remotae, Cratoneurion commutati, Lycopodo europaei-Cratoneurion commutati, Epilobio nutantis-Montion, KoenigioMicrojuncion, Mniobryo-Epilobion hornemanii, Philonotidion seriatae (Cardamino-Montion) and Swertio perennis-Anisothecion squarrosi, which were also reproduced by unsupervised classifications. Both unsupervised and semi-supervised classifications further suggested two alliances not previously recognized in the EuroVegChecklist: Anthelion julaceae (liverwort dominated subalpine to alpine springs in highly oceanic regions in Britain) and Cratoneuro filicini-Calthion laetae (mesotrophic herb-rich subalpine and alpine springs). The unsupervised classifications mainly reflected the base saturation gradient, distinguishing between calcareous and non-calcareous springs. Therefore, it is suggested the order Montio-Cardaminetalia, which is broadly delimited in the EuroVegChecklist, be divided into two separate orders and the following three orders should be distinguished within the class Montio-Cardaminetea: CardaminoChrysosplenietalia (non-calcareous forest springs; Caricion remotae), Cardamino-Cratoneuretalia (calcareous springs; Cratoneurion commutati, Lycopodo europaei-Cratoneurion commutati) and Montio-Cardaminetalia (non-calcareous non-forest springs; all other alliances).

We studied diatoms from the fifteen springs selected in the Berchtesgaden National Park on behalf of the Bavarian State Ministry for the Environment to be sentinel environments of climate-change effects. For three of these springs, diatom data based on samples taken in 1997 were also available. A total of 162 species belonging to 49 genera were found sampling three microhabitat types (lithic materials, bryophytes, surface sediments). The cumulative percentage of all species included in a threat category including endangered species was 43%, confirming previous findings for comparable environments of the Alps. We could find a statistically significant positive association between the Meinzer variability index for discharge and the cumulative relative abundance of aerial diatom species. This study thus highlighted once again the relevance of discharge (and associated water-level) variability as an environmental determinant of diatom assemblages in spring ecosystems. Increased nitrate concentrations in some springs, likely due to diffuse airborne pollution and, locally, to impacts such as forest management, game, and cattle, led to a relevant occurrence of eutraphentic diatom species. Our results show a segregation of the older data in non-parametric diatom-based ordinations, suggesting a strong potential for the use of spring diatoms in studies aiming at tracking the effects of climate and environmental change.

Freshwater biodiversity is disproportionally endangered and under-prioritized. Algal Red Lists literature is very limited, and there are only two editions of a single diatom-specific Red List (developed for Germany), in spite of the importance of diatoms for biodiversity and global ecosystem functioning. We used and analysed the new diatom Red List, compared to the previous edition, to show that these diatom microalgae threat status data allow, on one hand, a characterization of the ecological integrity and of the diatom diversity of the different types of inland-water ecosystems (also of practical importance to designate the most relevant habitats for conservation purposes), including a clear assessment of the threat status of the habitat, and, on the other hand, they offer ample possibilities to track the effects of stressors and of environmental change. Our results revealed, among other things, that: (1) threatened taxa concentrate in dystrophic-oligotrophic environments; (2) 'not threatened', i.e. tolerant and opportunistic, taxa are most frequent in eutrophic and saline ecosystems; (3) most local diatom extinctions happened in carbonate oligotrophic habitats. In this study, nitrates could be shown to possess a highly significant negative association with the cumulative percentage of diatom taxa in threat categories of the Red List. Having included heterogeneous studies (diverse inland-waters, different geographic areas, from close-to-pristine to impacted, neo- and paleolimnology etc.), we think that this strong negative association is noteworthy and points to the high potential of diatom-Red-List based approaches, especially if these would be tailored for the different biogeographic and climatic ecoregions.

Peatlands are a major carbon (C) sink and represent important habitats for nature conservation because of the occurrence of specifically adapted organisms. Peatlands are typically nutrient-poor environments, and thus extremely sensitive to nitrogen (N) depositions. In fact, increasing N inputs can cause a shift from a Sphagnum moss- to a vascular plant-dominated vegetation as well as an alteration of the mire geochemistry which, in turn, affects the litter composition and decomposition rate. Peatland is an extremely fragile ecosystem: at the European level, >60% of this habitat type has been lost just in the last decades. In Alpine peatlands, in particular, overgrazing has been identified as a main problem for habitat integrity and biodiversity. In the present study, six Belarus (50-cm deep) cores were collected from several peatlands located in the Adamello-Brenta Nature Park (Trentino, Italy) mirroring a grazing-induced disturbance gradient. All cores were cut frozen into 3-cm sections, and analysed for dry density, water content, pH, EC, and elemental (CHNS) composition. Diatom taphocoenoses were also determined. In particular, diatom frustules were prepared using hot hydrogen peroxide and finally mounted in the Naphrax© resin to produce permanent mounts for identifications and counts. 400 valves were counted and identified to the species level in each slide using a light microscope at x1000 magnification. The whole procedure was kept quantitative to allow the calculation of absolute abundances (n-valves/g-peat-dw). Physical, chemical and biological parameters generally underlined how the grazing influence was clear mainly in the top 20 cm, and resulted in an increasing of density (up to 2×) and N concentration (up to 3×) as well as in a lower gravimetric water content (up to 50%). No significant differences were observed below 30 cm of depth. More than 100 diatom species were identified throughout the 6 cores investigated, and several of them are included in threat categories of the Red List for central Europe (e.g., Cymbopleura valaiseana, Eunotia hexaglyphis, E. triodon). Since diatoms can reflect major regional environmental gradients, they can be used as indicators of ecological conditions in peatlands. In fact, some species that are trivial (= frequent and often abundant) in mire environments in spite of being relatively rare at the overall level of European inland waters (e.g., Aulacoseira alpigena, Encyonema perpusillum, Kobayasiella micropunctata) were found in the cores from highly-grazed areas whilst several rare and sensitive species were detected only (or were clearly more frequent) in cores from mildly-grazed areas. This research can provide useful indications on the harmful effects of grazing in terms of both biogeochemical cycles and nature/habitats conservation.

While revising samples of Dialytrichia saxicola in LISU in preparation for IUCN Threatened Species of Europe assessments, (Sérgio & Porley 2019) we found a collection from Italy that matched the typical expression of this species.The population trend of this species was suspected to be increasing, favoured perhaps by eutrophication, and it was predicted that new areas of occurrence may be found (Sérgio & Porley 2019).It was therefore assessed as Least Concern, and considered native in Belgium, mainland France, Germany, Netherlands, mainland Portugal, Madeira, mainland Spain and Great Britain (Hodgetts & Lockhart 2020).Dialytrichia saxicola was first described from France as Dialytrichia mucronata (Brid.)Broth.var.fragilifolia Bizot & Cl.Roux, and subsequently raised to species rank as Dialytrichia fragilifolia (Bizot & Cl.Roux) F. Lara.It was later regarded as a variety of Dialytrichia mucronata, but taxonomic doubts remained pending further studies.More recently Barbula saxicola Lamy was shown to apply to this species and the transfer of Barbula saxicola to Dialytrichia necessitated the new combination D. saxicola (Lamy) M.J. Cano, since saxicola is the oldest available epithet

New national and regional bryophyte records, 70 L. T. Ellis, O. M. Afonina, M. H. B. Alia, M. Burghardt , B. Cabezudo, M. J. Cano, A. C. Cottet, J. Csiky, J. Deme, P. Erzberger, M. Evangelista, E. A. Glazkova, D. Gómez-González, J. Guerra, J. A. Jiménez, E. Yu. Kuzmina, N. S. Liksakova, M. I. Messuti, R. Natcheva, N. Norhazrina, J. P. Pantović, B. Papp, A. D. Potemkin , E. Rodríguez-Quiel, M. S. Sabovljević, D. Spitale, S. Ștefănuţ, N. Syazwana, M. G. Tossou and A. A. Vilnet t Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK; Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia; Laboratoire de Botanique et Ecologie Végétale, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Benin; Grupo de Investigación en Biodiversidad, Medio Ambiente y Salud, BIOMAS / Facultad de Ingenierías y Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad de Las Américas, Quito, Ecuador; Área de Botánica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain; Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain; Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente (INIBIOMA); Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) – Universidad Nacional del Comahue (UNComahue), Quintral, Río Negro, Argentina; Department of Ecology, Institute of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary; Berlin, Germany; Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Feira de Santana, BA – Brazil; Herbario UCH, Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí, Panamá; Vicerrectoría de Investigación y Posgrado, Puebla, Mexico; Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria; Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia; Institute of Botany and Botanical Garden, Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia; Department of Botany, Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary; Department of Botany, Institute of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Košice, Slovakia; MuSe Museo delle Scienze, Corso del Lavoro e della Scienza, Trento, Italy; Institute of Biology Bucharest of Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania; PolarAlpine Botanical Garden-Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Apatity, Murmansk Province, Russia

F. M. Raimondo, S. S. Choi, J. Csiky, É. Csikyné Radnai, B. Cykowska-Marzencka, I. V. Czernyadjeva, Yu M. Kalinina, O. M. Afonina, G. Domina, P. Drapela, V. E. Fedosov, E. Fuertes, R. Gabriel, M. Kubová, I. Soares Albergaria, G. Gospodinov, R. Natcheva, A. Graulich, T. Hedderson, E. Hernández-Rodríguez, V. Hugonnot, C. W. Hyun, M. Kırmacı, U. Çatak, S. Kubešová, J. Kučera, C. La Farge, J. Larraín , P. Martin, B. Mufeed, C. N. Manju, K. P. Rajesh, Cs. Németh, J. Nagy, N. Norhazrina, N. Syazwana, S. V. O’Leary, S. J. Park, A. P. Peña-Retes, A. Rimac , A. Alegro, V. Šegota, N. Koletić, N. Vuković, S. Rosadziński, J. A. Rosselló, M. S. Sabovljević, A. D. Sabovljević, A. Schäfer-Verwimp, C. Sérgio, A. V. Shkurko, D. Shyriaieva, V. M. Virchenko, M. Smoczyk, D. Spitale, P. Srivastava, I. Omar, A. K. Asthana, M. Staniaszek-Kik, A. Cienkowska, M.-M. Ștefănuţ, S. Ștefănuţ, G. Tamas, C.-C. Bîrsan, G.-R. Nicoară, M. C. Ion, T. Pócs, G. Kunev, E. I. Troeva, J. van Rooy, P. WietrzykPełka, M. H. Węgrzyn, G. J. Wolski, D. Bożyk and A. Cienkowska

We explored the influence of climatic factors on diversity patterns of multiple taxa (lichens, bryophytes, and vascular plants) along a steep elevational gradient to predict communities’ dynamics under future climate change scenarios in Mediterranean regions. We analysed (1) species richness patterns in terms of heat-adapted, intermediate, and cold-adapted species; (2) pairwise beta-diversity patterns, also accounting for its two different components, species replacement and richness difference; (3) the influence of climatic variables on species functional traits. Species richness is influenced by different factors between three taxonomic groups, while beta diversity differs mainly between plants and cryptogams. Functional traits are influenced by different factors in each taxonomic group. On the basis of our observations, poikilohydric cryptogams could be more impacted by climate change than vascular plants. However, contrasting species-climate and traits-climate relationships were also found between lichens and bryophytes suggesting that each group may be sensitive to different components of climate change. Our study supports the usefulness of a multi-taxon approach coupled with a species traits analysis to better unravel the response of terrestrial communities to climate change. This would be especially relevant for lichens and bryophytes, whose response to climate change is still poorly explored.