@article{fdi:010068128,
  title = {{F}ern species richness and abundance are indicators of climate change on high-elevation islands : evidence from an elevational gradient on {T}ahiti ({F}rench {P}olynesia)},
  author = {{P}outeau, {R}obin and {M}eyer, {J}. {Y}. and {B}lanchard, {P}. and {N}itta, {J}. {H}. and {T}erorotua, {M}. and {T}aputuarai, {R}.},
  editor = {},
  language = {{ENG}},
  abstract = {{I}nherent characteristics of island species make them particularly susceptible to anthropogenic changes and need to be assessed to implement appropriate conservation strategies. {T}he impacts of climate change are increasingly being investigated along elevational gradients since they provide natural laboratories to study how species respond to climatic variation. {F}erns are particularly sensitive to air humidity and temperature and are therefore potentially useful as bio-indicators. {T}his study addresses the question of whether the distributions of fern species richness and abundance have climatic correlates along an elevational gradient on the tropical volcanic island of {T}ahiti ({F}rench {P}olynesia). {A}nalyses were conducted on two datasets: island-wide richness was estimated using published data on species elevational ranges, and local richness and abundance were addressed through a transect survey. {C}orrelations with water availability, temperature, area availability, and a randomly-generated species richness pattern were investigated. {R}esults showed that both diversity and abundance varied in association with climate. {R}ainfall was collinear with diversity in the lower half of the elevational gradient ({R}-2 = 0.97), while temperature was the most important climatic correlate for diversity in the upper half ({R}-2 = 0.98). {T}he number of terrestrial fern individuals and epiphytic fern cover were both correlated with temperature ({R}-2 = 0.86 and 0.81, respectively). {O}ur results imply that impacts of climate change on ferns on {T}ahiti might include change in diversity and abundance, and increased extinction risk due to low overlap between current and projected species distributions. {F}erns represent important indicator organisms that can be used to study species distributional responses to climate change in island ecosystems.},
  keywords = {{C}limate envelope ; {G}lobal warming ; {M}ountain ecology ; {P}acific islands ; {POLYNESIE} {FRANCAISE} ; {TAHITI}},
  booktitle = {},
  journal = {{C}limatic {C}hange},
  volume = {138},
  numero = {1-2},
  pages = {143--156},
  ISSN = {0165-0009},
  year = {2016},
  DOI = {10.1007/s10584-016-1734-x},
  URL = {https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010068128},
}