Khatuna Gigauri
Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA), Georgia
Title: Modeling of the climate change impact on the alpine plants diversity of the central Greater Caucasus
Biography
Biography: Khatuna Gigauri
Abstract
The global climate change will affect all the ecosystems around the world, but the most rapid and sharp changes are expected in high mountain areas. Many observations have shown that climate warming has already led to changes in habitats, distribution patterns and viability of certain plants. The long term monitoring program GLORIA supported by the European Union was established for monitoring of the alpine plant cover transformation. The study sites and permanent plots in the central Greater Caucasus were chosen according to the GLORIA protocol. The plant cover, abundance, distribution and soil temperature were monitored in 64 permanent plots and four summits in 2001, 2008 and 2015. The average annual soil temperature did not increase during the monitoring periods; however, there were some fluctuations in 2002-2003. Growing degree day (GDD) changed in different years, but there was no significantly increasing trend. The thermic indicator (S) decreased on all summits during monitoring period. This indicates the low degree of the thermpilization status of the monitored plots. The study has shown that grasses and sedges tend to get more benefit from local climate change. Their cover and abundance did not change as much as the indicator value of the indicator species. It was obvious that the endemics and cold-adapted species are not severely endangered and species immigration is not in case. The observed changes mostly reflect a filling process rather than succession and central Greater Caucasus has faced no climate warming on this particular stage of the research.