Güsewell, Sabine

Parisod, Christian

Wipf, Sonja

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EDITORIALPlant and vegetation responses to a changing environment:an alpine issueChristian Parisod • Sonja Wipf • Sabine Gu¨sewellPublished online: 28 October 2010 Springer Basel AG 2010IntroductionBotanica Helvetica has traditionally published scientificpapers on all aspects of botanical research. The present issueis specifically devoted to alpine plants. It illustrates how theyhave adapted to the specific environmental conditions ofmountain environments in the past and how they respond tohuman-induced environmental change presently or in thefuture.Being based in an Alpine country, Botanica Helvetica hastraditionally included a high proportion of studies from theAlps or other mountain regions. The fraction of papersdealing with mountain plants has even been increasingrecently. Our most prominent contributions, i.e. those writ-ten by famous botanists (e.g. Stebbins 1984) and those mostread and most cited in recent years (e.g. Stehlik 2000;Landolt 2006; Parisod 2008) deal with alpine plants.These observations led us to the decision to prepare aspecial issue on alpine plants. By devoting an entire issue tothis topic, we wish to strengthen the emerging link betweenthe journal of the Swiss Botanical Society and researchabout mountain plants and vegetation.Alpine issue(s)Alpine plants and mountain vegetation are of particularinterest to botanists for several reasons. First, the harshabiotic conditions, strong environmental gradients andisolated habitats create a particular setting for plant evo-lution. Population processes and genetic differentiation areexpected to differ between lowland plants and alpineplants (Zoller and Lenzin 2006; Sto¨cklin et al. 2009;Till-Bottraud et al. 2010). Mountain regions also harborparticular plant community types, both at high elevations(Be´guin et al. 2006; Gerdol et al. 2010) and in the valleysor forelands (Wallno¨fer and Hotter 2008; Prunier et al.2010a, b).Second, the Alps have gone through a fascinatinghistory of recurrent climatic changes, glaciations andpostglacial recolonisation phases, as well as multipledisturbances. The postglacial vegetation history of theAlps is particularly complex due to the existence ofmultiple refugia and recolonisation pathways, which havecreated the specific patterns of species distribution,genetic diversity and vegetation composition observedtoday. Understanding the processes involves a multitudeof questions in the fields of biogeography, phylogeogra-phy and paleobotany (Bauert et al. 2007; Gugerli et al.2009; Mraz et al. 2009; Gobet et al. 2010), which are alsohighly relevant for predictions of responses to futurechanges as well as conservation strategies (Gobet et al.2010; Prunier et al. 2010b),Third, mountain ecosystems are particularly sensitive torecent anthropogenic disturbances such as land-use chan-ges, nutrient inputs and global warming. They are thusparticularly suitable to study the effects of these distur-bances (Frei et al. 2010; Pearce et al. 2010; Vittoz et al.2010).C. ParisodEvolutionary Botany, University of Neuchatel, rue Emile-Argand 11, 2009 Neuchaˆtel, Switzerlande-mail: christian.parisod@unine.chS. WipfWSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF,Flu¨elastrasse 11, 7260 Davos, Switzerlande-mail: wipf@slf.chS. Gu¨sewell (&)Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zu¨rich, Universita¨tsstrasse16, 8092 Zu¨rich, Switzerlande-mail: sabine.guesewell@env.ethz.chBot. Helv. (2010) 120:83–84DOI 10.1007/s00035-010-0082-0 Botanica HelveticaEach of these topics is addressed by one or several papersin the present special issue. The collection of papers pre-sented here jointly contributes to a better understanding ofplant responses to environmental change—hence the title ofthis alpine issue.The futureAs editors, we constantly seek to improve Botanica Helve-tica’s visibility and attractiveness. Having observed anintrinsic trend for recently published articles to be focusedon mountain plants and vegetation, we believe that thejournal will benefit from being entirely focused on alpinebotany in the future. A tendency towards a narrow thematicfocus can be noticed among scientific journals: Some10–20 years ago, well-established journals with a widescope were most popular among authors and readers, asevidenced by their high citation indices. These have inrecent years been equaled or even surpassed by some jour-nals on more clearly defined topics.We have consulted botanists from Switzerland andabroad about their opinion on devoting a journal to alpinebotany. The generally positive responses encouraged us topursue this idea.As from next year, Botanica Helvetica will thus focuson plant research in mountain regions under the new name‘‘Alpine Botany’’. We hope that the collection of articlespublished in this special issue will encourage manyauthors from around the world to submit their next man-uscript in this field of research to our journal. We wish tostress that any paper about Swiss plants and vegetationwill still be considered for publication given the close linkbetween Switzerland and the Alps. Guidelines for authorswill be available soon on the homepage of BotanicaHelvetica.Until now, Botanica Helvetica was edited collabora-tively by a team of editors, each of whom was responsiblefor part of the submitted manuscripts. The editorialresponsibility has now been taken over by Prof. Dr. Ju¨rgSto¨cklin (University of Basel), who was elected as neweditor of the journal at the annual meeting 2010 of theSwiss Botanical Society. He has already done an importantwork in preparing the transition from Botanica Helveticato Alpine Botany and has appointed an international edi-torial board to assist him in editorial decisions. The currentteam of editors has herewith completed its mission andwould like to thank all authors, reviewers and readers fortheir respective contributions to the existence and successof the journal.ReferencesBauert MR, Kaelin M, Edwards PJ, Baltisberger M (2007) Geneticstructure and phylogeography of alpine relict populations ofRanunculus pygmaeus and Saxifraga cernua. Bot Helv117:181–196Be´guin C, Progin Sonney M, Vonlanthen M (2006) La ve´ge´tation dessols polygonaux aux e´tages alpin supe´rieur et subnival en Valais(Alpes centro-occidentales, Suisse). Bot Helv 116:41–54Gerdol R, Siffi C, Bombanato, L (2010) Aboveground production andnutrient status of the vegetation of different mire types in theSouth-eastern Alps (Italy). Bot Helv (this issue)Frei E, Bodin J, Walther GR (2010) Plant species’ range shifts inmountainous areas—all uphill from here? Bot Helv (this issue)Gobet E, Vescovi E, Tinner W (2010) Ein pala¨oo¨kologischer Beitragzum besseren Versta¨ndnis der natu¨rlichen Vegetation derSchweiz. Bot Helv (this issue)Gugerli F, Ruegg M, Vendramin GG (2009) Gradual decline ingenetic diversity in Swiss stone pine populations (Pinus cembra)across Switzerland suggests postglacial re-colonization into theAlps from a common eastern glacial refugium. Bot Helv119:13–22Landolt E (2006) Zur Kenntnis der Taxonomie und Verbreitung derAlpenpflanzen. Bot Helv 116:79–90Mraz P, Chrtek J, Singliarova B (2009) Geographical parthenogen-esis, genome size variation and pollen production in the arctic-alpine species Hieracium alpinum. Bot Helv 119:41–51Parisod C (2008) Postglacial recolonisation of plants in the westernAlps of Switzerland. Bot Helv 118:1–12Pearce ISK, Britton AJ, Armitage HF, Jones B (2010) Additiveimpacts of nitrogen deposition and grazing on a mountain moss-sedge heath. Bot Helv (this issue)Prunier P, Garraud L, Ko¨hler C, Lambelet-Haueter C, Selvaggi A,Werner P (2010a) Distribution et re´gression de la petite massette(Typha minima) dans les Alpes. Bot Helv 120:43–52Prunier P, Ko¨hler C, Lambelet C, Frossard PA (2010b) Espe`cescaracte´ristiques et positionnement syntaxonomique des com-munaute´s a` petite massette (Typha minima): une contribution auchoix des sites de re´introduction d’une espe`ce alluviale menace´e.Bot Helv (this issue)Stebbins GL (1984) Polyploidy and the distribution of the Arctic-Alpine flora—new evidence and a new approach. Bot Helv94:1–13Stehlik I (2000) Nunataks and peripheral refugia for alpine plantsduring quaternary glaciation in the middle part of the Alps. BotHelv 110:25–30Sto¨cklin J, Kuss P, Pluess AR (2009) Genetic diversity, phenotypicvariation and local adaptation in the alpine landscape: casestudies with alpine plant species. Bot Helv 119:125–133Till-Bottraud I, Poncet BN, Rioux D, Girel J (2010) Spatial structureand clonal distribution of genotypes in the rare Typha minimaHoppe (Typhaceae) along a river system. Bot Helv 120:53–62Vittoz P, Camenisch M, Mayor R, Miserere L, Vust M, Theurillat JP(2010) Subalpine-nival gradient of species richness for vascularplants, bryophytes and lichens in the Swiss Inner Alps. Bot Helv(this issue)Wallno¨fer S, Hotter M (2008) Syntaxonomy and site ecology ofmixed oak forest communities in the inner and intermedial Alpsof Tyrol (Austria). Bot Helv 118:21–43Zoller H, Lenzin H (2006) Composed cushions and coexistence withneighbouring species promoting the persistence of Eritrichiumnanum in high alpine vegetation. Bot Helv 116:31–4084 C. Parisod et al.

Plant and vegetation responses to a changing environment: an alpine issue

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Plant and vegetation responses to a changing environment: an alpine issue

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