cc222940-6487-429a-9410-620afa7293b6 eng Ev-K2-CNR +39 035 3230511 +39 035 3230551 Via San Bernardino 145 Bergamo BG 24126 Italy metadata@evk2cnr.org http://www.evk2cnr.org/ 2012-02-20T16:27:41 ISO 19115:2003/19139 1.0 Effect of the extreme summer heat waves on isolated populations of two orophitic plants in the north Apennines (Italy) 2012-01-04T00:00:00 Nordic Journal of Botany 1756-1051 One of the lesser known effects of global climate change is the occurrence of heat waves. Climatic models predict that heat waves will become more intense, longer lasting and/or more frequent, as a consequence of the increased inter-annual variability and increased average values of summer temperatures. Plants are damaged by heat waves through direct effects of extreme temperatures influencing plant physiology and through indirect effects, like drought and exposure to high ozone concentration. This study investigates the flowering abundance and biomass production of two orophytic species, Alopecurus alpinus Vill. and Vicia cusnae Foggi et Ricceri following the heat wave that occurred in the summer of 2003 and analyses the effects of summer temperatures during the period 1999–2004 on the species reproductive performance. In 2003, we observed a significant decrease in the number of flowering stems and flowers per flowering stem for both species. Flower production reached its lowest value in correspondence to the heat wave in 2003 and Redundancy Analysis showed that flower production was related to the mean June temperature. Flower production was more sensitive than vegetative growth, which was maintained. This suggests that changes in reproductive strategies, e.g. changes in the ratio between sexual and clonal reproduction, may occur by as an effect of extreme weather events. Such changes may be of great importance when the population consists of a small number of flowering individuals, as is the case for A. alpinus and V. cusnae in the study area. As a consequence, although the plants generally responded positively to gradual warming, we found that, during the monitoring period 1999–2004, extreme temperatures had a negative effect on A. alpinus and V. cusnae. Thomas Abeli Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Pavia +39 3387038738 Via S. Epifanio 14, Pavia PV 27100 Italy thomas.abeli@unipv.it thomabeli@yahoo.it http://www-3.unipv.it/labecove/welcome.html Graziano Rossi Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Pavia, +39 0382984854 +39 038234240 Via S. Epifanio 14, Pavia PV 27100 Italy graziano.rossi@unipv.it http://www-3.unipv.it/labecove/welcome.html Rodolfo Gentili Science Department of the Environment and Territory,University of Milan-Bicocca, +39 0264482700 +39 0264482996 Piazza della Scienza 1, Milano Mi 20126 Italy rodolfo.gentili@unimib.it http://www.disat.unimib.it Andrea Mondoni Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Pavia +39 0382984854 +39 3405612268 Via S. Epifanio 14 Pavia PV 27100 Italy andrea.mondoni@unipv.it http://www-3.unipv.it/labecove/welcome.html Paolo Cristofanelli Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC) - CNR +39 0516399597 +39 0516399652 Via Gobetti 101 Bologna BO 40129 Italy p.cristofanelli@isac.cnr.it http://www.isac.cnr.it/ Maurizia Gandini Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Pavia +39 3381036976 Via S. Epifanio 14 Pavia PV 27100 Italy mauriziagandini@virgilio.it http://www.unipv.eu/on-line/Home.html https://geoportal.mountaingenius.org/geonetwork/srv/eng/resources.get?uuid=cc222940-6487-429a-9410-620afa7293b6&fname=mountain_witness__s.png thumbnail png SHARE global climate change biomass production the flowering abundance eng biota 6.62397 18.5144 36.6492 47.0946 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1756-1051.2011.01303.x/abstract WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link Abstract:"Effect of the extreme summer heat waves on isolated populations of two orophitic plants in the north Apennines (Italy)." "Effect of the extreme summer heat waves on isolated populations of two orophitic plants in the north Apennines (Italy)." Abeli, T., Rossi, G., Gentili, R., Gandini, M., Mondoni, A. and Cristofanelli, P. (2012), Nordic Journal of Botany. doi: 10.1111/j.1756-1051.2011.01303.x