Publications by authors named "Mariana Garcia Criado"

The Arctic is warming four times faster than the global average and plant communities are responding through shifts in species abundance, composition and distribution. However, the direction and magnitude of local changes in plant diversity in the Arctic have not been quantified. Using a compilation of 42,234 records of 490 vascular plant species from 2,174 plots across the Arctic, here we quantified temporal changes in species richness and composition through repeat surveys between 1981 and 2022.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Northern herbivores significantly impact tundra ecosystems, but the effects of herbivore diversity on these ecosystems have been largely overlooked, especially with ongoing climate and land-use changes.
  • This systematic review analyzed numerous studies (201 articles and over 3700 individual comparisons) to understand how different levels of herbivore diversity (measured by functional group richness) influence ecosystem processes and functions in the tundra.
  • The findings highlight a concentrated body of research from specific locations, emphasizing the need for more comprehensive studies across diverse Arctic regions to grasp the full effects of herbivore diversity on ecosystem functionality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Biodiversity loss is a major global challenge and minimizing extinction rates is the goal of several multilateral environmental agreements. Policy decisions require comprehensive, spatially explicit information on species' distributions and threats. We present an analysis of the conservation status of 14,669 European terrestrial, freshwater and marine species (ca.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Climate change is leading to species redistributions. In the tundra biome, shrubs are generally expanding, but not all tundra shrub species will benefit from warming. Winner and loser species, and the characteristics that may determine success or failure, have not yet been fully identified.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Changes in Arctic vegetation can have important implications for trophic interactions and ecosystem functioning leading to climate feedbacks. Plot-based vegetation surveys provide detailed insight into vegetation changes at sites around the Arctic and improve our ability to predict the impacts of environmental change on tundra ecosystems. Here, we review studies of changes in plant community composition and phenology from both long-term monitoring and warming experiments in Arctic environments.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF