Henry Brisse

A Significant Upward Shift in Plant Species Optimum Elevation During the 20th Century

Spatial fingerprints of climate change on biotic communities are usually associated with changes in the distribution of species at their latitudinal or altitudinal extremes. By comparing the altitudinal distribution of 171 forest plant species between 1905 and 1985 and 1986 and 2005 along the entire elevation range (0 to 2600 meters above sea level) in west Europe, we show that climate warming has resulted in a significant upward shift in species optimum elevation averaging 29 meters per decade. The shift is larger for species restricted to mountain habitats and for grassy species, which are characterized by faster population turnover. Our study shows that climate change affects the spatial core of the distributional range of plant species, in addition to their distributional margins, as previously reported.

Formalized classification of European fen vegetation at the alliance level

Phytosociological classification of fen vegetation (Scheuchzerio palustris-Caricetea fuscae class) differs among European countries. Here we propose a unified vegetation classification of European fens at the alliance level, provide unequivocal assignment rules for individual vegetation plots, identify diagnostic species of fen alliances, and map their distribution. 29 049 vegetation-plot records of fenswere selected fromdatabases using a list of specialist fen species. Formal definitions of alliances were created using the presence, absence and abundance of Cocktail-based species groups and indicator species. DCA visualized the similarities among the alliances in an ordination space. The ISOPAM classification algorithm was applied to regional subsets with homogeneous plot size to check whether the classification based on formal definitions matches the results of unsupervised classifications. The following alliances were defined: Caricion viridulo-trinervis (sub-halophytic Atlantic dune-slack fens), Caricion davallianae (temperate calcareous fens), Caricion atrofusco-saxatilis (arcto-alpine calcareous fens), Stygio-Caricion limosae (boreal topogenic brown-moss fens), Sphagno warnstorfii-Tomentypnion nitentis (Sphagnumbrown-moss rich fens), Saxifrago-Tomentypnion (continental to boreo-continental nitrogen-limited brown-moss rich fens), Narthecion scardici (alpine fens with Balkan endemics), Caricion stantis (arctic brown-moss rich fens), Anagallido tenellae-Juncion bulbosi (Ibero-Atlantic moderately rich fens), Drepanocladion exannulati (arcto-borealalpine non-calcareous fens), Caricion fuscae (temperate moderately rich fens), Sphagno-Caricion canescentis (poor fens) and Scheuchzerion palustris (dystrophic hollows). The main variation in the species composition of European fens reflected site chemistry (pH, mineral richness) and sorted the plots from calcareous and extremely rich fens, through rich andmoderately rich fens, to poor fens and dystrophic hollows.

Relations entre plantes et climats en France : étalonnage de 1874 bio-indicateurs

The influence of climate on plants geography is studied through a probabilistic calibration between a botanical database, containing 12 000 plots, and a meteorological database composed of 574 climatic stations. The calibration measures the climatical optimum (position) and the indicator power (concentration) of 1874 plants for six climatic variables. The validation of these relations is based upon the comparison of the estimation of climate by plants and the values measured by climatic stations near the plots. This validation underlines that plants are accurate (accuracy=88.5%) and stable (stability=96.5%) bio-indicators of climate variables.

Les phytoclimats de France : classification probabiliste de 1874 bio-indicateurs du climat

This article presents a synthesis of the relationships between plants and climates at the scale of France, based on a probabilistic classification of 1874 bio-indicators. This classification defines plants groups that indicate the climate, named phytoclimates, expressing the climatic gradients in France. This classification shows 210 phytoclimatic groups distributed into ten cluster levels. The analysis of the various hierarchical levels shows two main phytoclimates testifying the importance of the marine masses and the altitude. The analysis of the third hierarchical level underlines particular phytoclimates which would not be easily recognizable by only analysing the overlapping of floristic and climatic territories. This classification allows one to select taxa that are indicators of the climate. The distribution monitoring or modeling of these taxa should show the effects of the global change on the ecosystems.

Les phytoclimats de France : classification probabiliste de 1874 bio-indicateurs du climat = The phytoclimates of France : probabilistic classification of 1874 bio-indicators of the climat

This article presents a synthesis of the relationships between plants and climates at the scale of France, based on a probabilistic classification of 1874 bio-indicators. This classification defines plants groups that indicate the climate, named phytoclimates, expressing the climatic gradients in France. This classification shows 210 phytoclimatic groups distributed into ten cluster levels. The analysis of the various hierarchical levels shows two main phytoclimates testifying the importance of the marine masses and the altitude. The analysis of the third hierarchical level underlines particular phytoclimates which would not be easily recognizable by only analysing the overlapping of floristic and climatic territories. This classification allows one to select taxa that are indicators of the climate. The distribution monitoring or modeling of these taxa should show the effects of the global change on the ecosystems.

Relationships between plants and climate in France: calibration of 1874 bio-indicators = Relations entre plantes et climats en France : étalonnage de 1874 bio-indicateurs

The influence of climate on plants geography is studied through a probabilistic calibration between a botanical database, containing 12 000 plots, and a meteorological database composed of 574 climatic stations. The calibration measures the climatical optimum (position) and the indicator power (concentration) of 1874 plants for six climatic variables. The validation of these relations is based upon the comparison of the estimation of climate by plants and the values measured by climatic stations near the plots. This validation underlines that plants are accurate (accuracy=88.5%) and stable (stability=96.5%) bio-indicators of climate variables.

REPEATABILITY OF THE FRENCH HIGHER VEGETATION TYPES ACCORDING

Higher vegetation types are generally determined by successive approximations and defined by a common consent. Instead, they might be statistically determined and repeated, according to a numerical method called ‘socio-ecology’. This method deals only with floristical data, but gives them an ecological meaning by a previous calibration of the relations between plants, computed as ecological indices. It is applied to a pair of two homologous samples, each having 2.000 releves and coming from the 60.000 releves stored in the French data bank ‘Sophy’. Each sample covers the main ecological gradients of the bank, it defines a hierarchy of vegetation types and it explains half the peculiarity of a type with only 10 to 30 discriminant plants, out of the 5.000 plants observed in the releves. Results : 1) The discriminant plants may characterize the vegetation types, including the higher ones, in a coherent and readable form. 2) In the two independent classifications, having different structures, the same vegetation types are repeated. They are the reciprocal nearest types, in the socio-ecological space. Though the two classifications have no one releve in common, the repeated types have nearly the same discriminant plants. 3) At the highest level, two clear-cut main types show the difference between light and shadow. The same herbaceous discriminant plants, for a type, and the ligneous or sciaphilous ones, for the other, have similar fidelities and constancies in the two classifications. 4) Such a numerical agreement, instead of common consent, appears again in the sub-types, which remind the classical ones, but which are repeatable.