Heterogeneous trait responses of Páramo plant species and community to experimental warming

Understanding climate change impact on the functional trait composition, and hence ecosystem functioning of tropical alpine regions is critical for predicting biodiversity responses. We tested the effects of a decade of warming on the morphological, chemical, and genomic traits of Páramo species using open-top-chambers (OTC). We conducted vegetation surveys and collected samples from individuals inside and outside the OTC plots to estimate differences between treatments (warming vs control). Vegetation cover decreased over time in both treatments suggesting a potential decline in soil moisture in our study area. Warming led to a reorganisation of the trait space and trait network structure. Nevertheless, we did not find significant differences in trait values or the direction of change between species whose % vegetation cover increased in OTC (or decreased less) compared to control over time. Community-weighted mean values of plant height, leaf area, leaf dry matter content, genome size..., Study area and experimental design
The study area is located in the Páramos of the Yanacocha Reserve, Ecuador, at 4,200 m a.s.l (0.13518°S, 78.57458°W). The passive warming experiment was installed in 2012 and consists of five parallel monitoring blocks, each of them containing 40 1 m2 plots delimited for different treatments. Plots assigned to a warming treatment were surrounded by a 3 x 3 m hexagonal open-top chamber (OTC). Control plots and those under warming treatment (OTC plots) were randomly chosen across the five blocks. Our analyses are based on the data from 17 OTC plots and 20 control plots.
For details on the climate in the study area refer to the published paper.
Field data collection
Vegetation surveys: Before installing the OTCs, a baseline survey was conducted in 2012, recording vegetation cover (%) of each seed plant species per plot. A further five vegetation surveys were conducted on the control and OTC plots in 2013, 2014, 2016 (a few plots for this survey were measu..., , # \"Dataset for paper Heterogeneous trait responses of Páramo plant species and community to experimental warming\"

# Summary of the study:

Understanding climate change impact on the functional trait composition, and hence ecosystem functioning of tropical alpine regions is critical for predicting biodiversity responses. We tested the effects of a decade of warming on the morphological, chemical and genomic traits of Páramo species using open-top-chambers (OTC). We conducted vegetation surveys and collected samples from individuals inside and outside the OTC plots to estimate differences between treatments (warming vs control). Vegetation cover decreased over time in both treatments suggesting a potential decline in soil moisture in our study area. Warming led to a reorganisation of the trait space and trait network structure. Species showed a wide range of responses to warming, with significant changes across different trait combinations. Nevertheless, we did not find significant diffe...,