Elevational Gradient of Vascular Plant Species Richness and Endemism in Crete - The Effect of Post-Isolation Mountain Uplift on a Continental Island System

dc.contributor.advisor	Trigas, Panayiotis	en
dc.contributor.advisor	Τρίγκας, Παναγιώτης	el
dc.contributor.author	Panitsa, Maria	en
dc.contributor.author	Tsiftsis, Spyros	en
dc.contributor.author	Πανιτσά, Μαρία	el
dc.contributor.author	Τσίφτης, Σπύρος	el
dc.date.accessioned	2014-06-06T06:52:30Z
dc.date.available	2014-06-06T06:52:30Z
dc.date.issued	2013-03-12	en
dc.identifier.issn	19326203	en
dc.identifier.uri	http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059425	en
dc.identifier.uri	http://62.217.125.90/xmlui/handle/123456789/6042
dc.rights	CC0 1.0 Παγκόσμια	el
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/	en
dc.title	Elevational Gradient of Vascular Plant Species Richness and Endemism in Crete - The Effect of Post-Isolation Mountain Uplift on a Continental Island System	en
heal.type	journalArticle	en
heal.keyword	Ecological niche	en
heal.keyword	Geographical variation	en
heal.keyword	Phytogeography	en
heal.keyword	Species distribution	en
heal.keyword	Species diversity	en
heal.keyword	Species dominance	en
heal.keyword	Species endemicity	en
heal.keyword	Species richness	en
heal.keyword	Vascular plant	en
heal.keyword	Greece	en
heal.keyword	Plant Dispersal	en
heal.identifier.primary	10.1371/journal.pone.0059425	en
heal.identifier.secondary	e59425	en
heal.recordProvider	Γεωπονικό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών/Επιστήμη Γεωπονικής Βιοτεχνολογίας	el
heal.recordProvider	Πανεπιστήμιο Ιωαννίνων/Τμήμα Περιβάλλοντος και Διαχείρισης Φυσικών Πόρων	el
heal.recordProvider	Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης,Τμήμα Βοτανικής	el
heal.publicationDate	2013-03-12	en
heal.bibliographicCitation	Trigas, Panayiotis. Elevational Gradient of Vascular Plant Species Richness and Endemism in Crete - The Effect of Post-Isolation Mountain Uplift on a Continental Island System, PLoS One, vol.8 (3), pp 1-13, PLoS 2013	en
heal.abstract	Understanding diversity patterns along environmental gradients and their underlying mechanisms is a major topic in current biodiversity research. In this study, we investigate for the first time elevational patterns of vascular plant species richness and endemism on a long-isolated continental island (Crete) that has experienced extensive post-isolation mountain uplift. We used all available data on distribution and elevational ranges of the Cretan plants to interpolate their presence between minimum and maximum elevations in 100-m elevational intervals, along the entire elevational gradient of Crete (0-2400 m). We evaluate the influence of elevation, area, mid-domain effect, elevational Rapoport effect and the post-isolation mountain uplift on plant species richness and endemism elevational patterns. Furthermore, we test the influence of the island condition and the post-isolation mountain uplift to the elevational range sizes of the Cretan plants, using the Peloponnese as a continental control area. Total species richness monotonically decreases with increasing elevation, while endemic species richness has a unimodal response to elevation showing a peak at mid-elevation intervals. Area alone explains a significant amount of variation in species richness along the elevational gradient. Mid-domain effect is not the underlying mechanism of the elevational gradient of plant species richness in Crete, and Rapoport's rule only partly explains the observed patterns. Our results are largely congruent with the post-isolation uplift of the Cretan mountains and their colonization mainly by the available lowland vascular plant species, as high-elevation specialists are almost lacking from the Cretan flora. The increase in the proportion of Cretan endemics with increasing elevation can only be regarded as a result of diversification processes towards Cretan mountains (especially mid-elevation areas), supported by elevation-driven ecological isolation. Cretan plants have experienced elevational range expansion compared to the continental control area, as a result of ecological release triggered by increased species impoverishment with increasing elevation. © 2013 Trigas et al.	en
heal.publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)	en
heal.journalName	PLoS ONE	en
dc.identifier.doi	10.1371/journal.pone.0059425	en