BioChange

Are alpine plants capable of coping with predicted climate warming? Do they adjust to newly experienced environmental conditions (adaptation), will they establish in newly colonized habitats (migration), or do they face extinction?

Arabis alpina, a widespread alpine plant Photo: Felix Gugerli (WSL)

Arabis alpina occurs in a wide variety of habitats spanning a large altitudinal range Photo: Felix Gugerli (WSL)

Climate warming is predicted to result in an above-average temperature increase in the European Alps. However, extreme weather conditions are likely to have stronger effects on plant survival than does a shift in means. The responses of plant populations to the expected environmental changes are either to adapt, to migrate, or to go extinct. Within the CCES-supported initiative BioChange, we study the variation in adaptive loci of the widespread plant species Arabis alpina. A combination of genome scans, selection experiments and paternity analysis will reveal how adaptive variation is spread across an alpine environment, considering qualitative and quantitative landscape features (landscape genomics). This study will thus elucidate the dynamics of adaptive variation in space and time.

• Felix Gugerli Künzle
  

• Rolf Holderegger