Expected changes in habitat area for all the species groups.

<p>Gray diagonal lines represent no change in habitat size; circles below the lines represent species with expected habitat size shrinkages, while circles above the lines represent species with expected habitat size increases. Red lines represent fitted linear models for each species group with their correlation, intercept and slope data.</p

Accumulated proportion of species number with minimum representation in protected areas, considering: a) a 10% threshold as proposed by [16], and b) a 17% threshold as proposed by [8], according to Chilean national protected areas system (NPA), private protected areas (PPA), prioritized sites for biodiversity conservation at national level (SBN) and proposed sites for biodiversity conservation at each Chilean regional administration level (SBR).

<p>Features within strips indicate the aggregated number of species that achieve the minimum conservation target by each protection system.</p

Frequencies of expected effects after climate-change scenario (%) for each species group.

<p>Features in parenthesis indicate number of species.</p

In the Right Place at the Right Time: Habitat Representation in Protected Areas of South American <i>Nothofagus</i>-Dominated Plants after a Dispersal Constrained Climate Change Scenario

<div><p>In order to assess the effects of climate change in temperate rainforest plants in southern South America in terms of habitat size, representation in protected areas, considering also if the expected impacts are similar for dominant trees and understory plant species, we used niche modeling constrained by species migration on 118 plant species, considering two groups of dominant trees and two groups of understory ferns. Representation in protected areas included Chilean national protected areas, private protected areas, and priority areas planned for future reserves, with two thresholds for minimum representation at the country level: 10% and 17%. With a 10% representation threshold, national protected areas currently represent only 50% of the assessed species. Private reserves are important since they increase up to 66% the species representation level. Besides, 97% of the evaluated species may achieve the minimum representation target only if the proposed priority areas were included. With the climate change scenario representation levels slightly increase to 53%, 69%, and 99%, respectively, to the categories previously mentioned. Thus, the current location of all the representation categories is useful for overcoming climate change by 2050. Climate change impacts on habitat size and representation of dominant trees in protected areas are not applicable to understory plants, highlighting the importance of assessing these effects with a larger number of species. Although climate change will modify the habitat size of plant species in South American temperate rainforests, it will have no significant impact in terms of the number of species adequately represented in Chile, where the implementation of the proposed reserves is vital to accomplish the present and future minimum representation. Our results also show the importance of using migration dispersal constraints to develop more realistic future habitat maps from climate change predictions.</p></div

Location of <i>Nothofagus</i>-dominated temperate rainforests in South America and the geographical distribution of protected areas in Chile: national system of protected areas (NPA), private protected areas (PPA), prioritized sites for biodiversity conservation at national level (SBN) and proposed sites for biodiversity conservation at each Chilean regional administration level (SBR).

<p>Location of <i>Nothofagus</i>-dominated temperate rainforests in South America and the geographical distribution of protected areas in Chile: national system of protected areas (NPA), private protected areas (PPA), prioritized sites for biodiversity conservation at national level (SBN) and proposed sites for biodiversity conservation at each Chilean regional administration level (SBR).</p

Expected changes for all the species group representation.

<p>Gray diagonal lines show no change in representation in NPA, circles under the lines represent expected shrinkages in NPA representation, while circles above the lines depict expected increases in representation in NPA. Red lines represent fitted linear models for each species group with their correlation, intercept and slope data.</p

Habitat size for each species group and modeled scenario.

<p>Top letters indicate significant differences within each species group according to paired t-tests in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0119952#pone.0119952.s007" target="_blank">S6 Table</a>.</p

List of studied species.

<p>Most of them are dominant species in the Chilean matorral.</p

Effect of heat shock treatments (100°C and 120°C) on the percentage of seed germination and seed survival of 21 common woody species from the Chilean matorral.

<p>Effect of heat shock treatments (100°C and 120°C) on the percentage of seed germination and seed survival of 21 common woody species from the Chilean matorral.</p

Postfire responses of the woody flora of Central Chile: Insights from a germination experiment

<div><p>Fire is a selective agent shaping plant traits and community assembly in fire-prone ecosystems. However, in ecosystems with no fire history, it can be a cause of land degradation when it is suddenly introduced by humans, as plant species may not be able to respond to such novel disturbance. Unlike other Mediterranean-type ecosystems (MTE) of the world, natural fires have not been frequent during the Quaternary in the matorral of Central Chile, and thus, plant adaptive responses are expected to be uncommon. We evaluated the effect of heat shock on seed survival and germination of 21 native woody plants of the Chilean matorral and compiled information on smoke-stimulation and resprouting, to evaluate the importance of fire-adaptive responses in the context of the other MTE. We found that in the Chilean woody flora negative seed responses to fire cues were more frequent than positive responses. Although resprouting is a relatively widespread trait, fire-stimulated germination is not as common in the Chilean matorral as in other MTE. The seeds of seven endemic species were strongly damaged by fire cues and this should be considered in post-fire restoration planning. However, our results also showed that many species were resistant to elevated doses of heat shock and in some, germination was even stimulated. Thus, future research should focus on the evolutionary causes of these responses. These findings could help to develop strategies for fire management in the Chilean matorral. In addition, they will improve our understanding of the evolutionary forces that shaped this plant community and to better frame this region among the other MTE worldwide.</p></div