Data from: Unexpected westward range shifts in European forest plants link to nitrogen deposition

Climate change is commonly assumed to induce species’ range shifts towards
the poles. Yet, other environmental changes may affect the geographical
distribution of species in unexpected ways. Here we quantify multi-decadal
shifts in the distribution of European forest plants, and link these
shifts to key drivers of forest biodiversity change: climate change,
atmospheric deposition (nitrogen and sulphur) and forest canopy dynamics.
Surprisingly, westward distribution shifts were 2.6 times more likely than
northward ones. Not climate change, but nitrogen-mediated colonization
events, possibly facilitated by the recovery from past acidifying
deposition, best explain westward movements. Biodiversity redistribution
patterns appear complex and are more likely driven by the interplay among
several environmental changes than due to the exclusive effects of climate
change alone.

气候变化通常被认为会导致物种的分布范围向两极迁移。然而，其他环境变化可能会以意想不到的方式影响物种的地理分布。在此，我们量化了欧洲森林植物分布的数十年变化，并将这些变化与森林生物多样性变化的关键驱动因素关联起来：气候变化、大气沉降（atmospheric deposition，氮与硫）以及森林冠层动态。令人惊讶的是，物种向西迁移的概率是向北迁移的2.6倍。并非气候变化，而是氮介导的殖民事件（可能由过去酸化沉降的恢复所促进）最能解释向西迁移的现象。生物多样性再分布模式看似复杂，其驱动因素更可能是多种环境变化的相互作用，而非仅由气候变化的单一效应所致。