Changes in Alpine Butterfly Communities during the Last 40 Years

Our work aims to assess how butterfly communities in the Italian Maritime Alps changed over the past 40 years, in parallel with altitudinal shifts occurring in plant communities. In 2019, we sampled butterflies at 7 grassland sites, between 1300–1900 m, previously investigated in 2009 and 1978, by semi-quantitative linear transects. Fine-scale temperature and precipitation data elaborated by optimal interpolation techniques were used to quantify climate changes. The changes in the vegetation cover and main habitat alterations were assessed by inspection of aerial photographs (1978–2018/1978–2006–2015). The vegetation structure showed a marked decrease of grassland habitats and an increase of woods (1978–2009). Plant physiognomy has remained stable in recent years (2009–2019) with some local exceptions due to geomorphic disturbance. We observed butterfly ‘species substitution’ indicating a general loss in the more specialised and a general gain in more tolerant elements. We did not observe any decrease in species richness, but rather a change in guild compositions, with (i) an overall increased abundance in some widespread and common lowland species and (ii) the disappearance (or strong decrease) of some alpine (high elevation) species, so that ‘resilience’ could be just delusive. Changes in butterfly community composition were consistent with predicted impacts of local warming

Net Ecosystem Exchange, Ecosystem Respiration and meteoclimatic data of Alpine grasslands at Nivolet Plain, Gran Paradiso National Park, Italy 2017-2023

<p>This dataset presents georeferenced measurements collected at the Nivolet Plain in Gran Paradiso National Park (GPNP), western Italian Alps. The dataset includes the Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE), Ecosystem Respiration (ER) and meteo-climatic variables, i.e. air and soil temperature, air relative humidity, soil volumetric water content, atmospheric pressure and solar irradiance. The measurements were conducted between 2017 and 2023 at five different sites at an elevation of approximately 2550-2750 meters a.s.l.</p><p>To estimate NEE and ER, we employed the flux chamber method, measuring the temporal variation of carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration inside the chamber over a period of about 90 seconds. We used a customized portable non-steady-state dynamic flux chamber, paired with an InfraRed Gas Analyzer (IRGA) and a portable weather station. Measurements were taken at around 20 points per site during the snow-free season, spanning from June to October.</p><p>The dataset is provided in a comma-separated text file (.csv) format. Each record corresponds to a single measurement point, with semicolons used as separators. The "NA" notation indicates values that are not available or have been excluded during quality control processes (e.g., due to battery failure). We use point as decimal separator.</p><p>The sign convention for the fluxes is: a negative value indicates a CO2 flux from the atmosphere to the ecosystem, while a positive value represents a CO2 flux from the soil/ecosystem to the atmosphere. Consequently, ER values are positive, while NEE values can be positive or negative. The units for NEE and ER fluxes are molCO2 m-2 day-1 and μmolCO2 m-2 second-1. The first values in each record of the dataset indicate the observation details (sampling date, site, etc.), followed by the corresponding measured or calculated variables. NEE and ER values were estimated from the slope of the linear regression of CO2 concentration over time (ppm s-1) using a laboratory calibration curve.</p><p>The calibration curve was created by relating known and pre-set CO2 fluxes (within the range expected in the field) with the corresponding measured slopes. The flux values were then scaled up based on the area of the chamber base (0.036 m2) and adjusted using the ratio of atmospheric pressure and air temperature during the measurement to those recorded during the calibration in the laboratory.</p&gt