DOI: 10.5061/dryad.5c20k
title: Data from: Herbivory prevents positive responses of lowland plants to warmer and more fertile conditions at high altitudes

description: 1. Warm-adapted low-elevation plants are expected to exhibit considerable
 range shifts to higher altitudes and latitudes as a result of climate
 warming and increased nutrient loads. However, empirical studies show that
 the magnitude and direction of plant responses are highly species- and
 site-specific, suggesting that several additional drivers interact with
 warmer climate. 2. We experimentally tested the interactive effects of
 climate warming, herbivory and soil fertility on low elevation plants.
 Seedlings of three warm-adapted lowland forbs (Epilobium angustifolium,
 Silene dioica and Solidago virgaurea) were transplanted to an open tundra
 site with native mountain tundra vegetation, and the effects of
 full-factorial combinations of herbivore exclosures, warming and
 fertilization on transplant survival, growth and flowering were studied
 for two growing seasons. We also investigated the response of native
 vegetation biomass to the same treatments, and compared it to the
 responses of transplanted lowland forbs. 3. Effects of both warming and
 fertilization on the transplanted lowland forbs strongly hinged on
 herbivore exclusion, resulting in ca 10 fold increase of biomass in warmed
 and fertilized plots without herbivores. While warm-adapted transplants
 benefited from warming, the native tundra plant community biomass did not
 respond to warming treatment. 4. Our results show that grazing limits the
 growth of transplants under warmer and more productive conditions,
 indicating that the expansion of lowland plant species to higher altitudes
 with warming may be hampered by mammalian herbivory. Furthermore, our
 results also suggest that migration of warm-adapted species into
 lightly-grazed high altitude tundra ecosystems might transform these
 communities to be more responsive to warmer climate and nutrient loads.
 Studies that do not consider species’ upward shifts from lower altitudes
 might thus have underestimated vegetation responses to global warming, as
 well as the potential of herbivory to influence these responses.
description: Data format Kaarlejarvi
 TransplantDATA COLLECTION: This
 data were collected in beginning of August 2011 in Kilpisjärvi, NW Finland
 (69.055⁰N, 20.887⁰E). Data comes from full-factorial
 warming-fertilization-herbivore exclusion experiment, where transplants of
 three forbs were grown for two growing seasons. For detailed methods see
 Kaarlejärvi et al. 2013, Funct Ecol. The file contains total biomass
 estimates of the three transplant species, reproductive biomass for two of
 the species and estimates of total vascular plant biomass on the study
 plots using point-intercept method. DATA FORMAT: Year: sampling year,
 PlotID: Individual identification code for each of 56 study plots (7
 replicates of each of 8 treatment combinations), Exclosure: “grazed”
 indicates plots without exclosure, “ungrazed” refers to plots with
 exclosures against mammalian herbivores, Fertilization: Self-explanatory,
 whether a plot was fertilized or not using NPK-fertilizer, Warming:
 Self-explanatory, whether a plot was warmed or not using Open Top Chamber,
 bmEpiang: Biomass of transplanted Epilobium angustifolium after two
 growing seasons (expressed in grams), bmSildio: Biomass of transplanted
 Silene dioica after the second growing season (expressed in grams),
 bmSolvir: Biomass of transplanted Solidago virgaurea after the second
 growing season (expressed in grams), bmSildioF: Reproductive biomass of
 transplanted Silene dioica after the second growing season (expressed in
 grams), bmSolvirF: Reproductive biomass of transplanted Solidago virgaurea
 after the second growing season (expressed in grams), VascularTotalHits:
 Total number of vascular plant hits per 108 pins systematically spread
 over 25 x 50 cm2 area in the middle of each study plot.Kaarlejarvi Transplant
 Data.xlsx