Early Life History Stage Dynamics Across the Elevational Ranges of Andean Trees

Abstract

In the face of climate change, one option species have is to shift their geographic ranges to respond to changing temperatures, precipitation, and other climatic variables. Accurately predicting how species distributions may shift with climate change requires an understanding of what controls species ranges that extends beyond correlations between species occurrences and abiotic factors. For species in tropical montane systems, changes in geographic ranges are predicted to occur along elevational gradients, particularly with respect to temperature, as latitudinal gradients in temperature are shallow or nonexistent. To move upslope species will have to disperse to new areas and contend with novel combinations of biotic and abiotic factors that are likely to affect establishment. The research described here leverages an elevational gradient in the Peruvian Andes to quantify how changes in biotic interactions and environmental factors affect the early life history stages and transitions of tropical trees.