• Energy Research

AbstractBrief introduction: What are microclimates and why are they important?Microclimate science has developed into a global discipline. Microclimate science is increasingly used to understand and mitigate climate and biodiversity shifts. Here, we provide an overview of the current status of microclimate ecology and biogeography in terrestrial ecosystems, and where this field is heading next.Microclimate investigations in ecology and biogeographyWe highlight the latest research on interactions between microclimates and organisms, including how microclimates influence individuals, and through them populations, communities and entire ecosystems and their processes. We also briefly discuss recent research on how organisms shape microclimates from the tropics to the poles.Microclimate applications in ecosystem managementMicroclimates are also important in ecosystem management under climate change. We showcase new research in microclimate management with examples from biodiversity conservation, forestry and urban ecology. We discuss the importance of microrefugia in conservation and how to promote microclimate heterogeneity.Methods for microclimate scienceWe showcase the recent advances in data acquisition, such as novel field sensors and remote sensing methods. We discuss microclimate modelling, mapping and data processing, including accessibility of modelling tools, advantages of mechanistic and statistical modelling and solutions for computational challenges that have pushed the state‐of‐the‐art of the field.What's next?We identify major knowledge gaps that need to be filled for further advancing microclimate investigations, applications and methods. These gaps include spatiotemporal scaling of microclimate data, mismatches between macroclimate and microclimate in predicting responses of organisms to climate change, and the need for more evidence on the outcomes of microclimate management.

Commentary p559

Abstract Besides environmental sorting, other processes like biotic interactions and dispersal limitation are vital for the assembly of plant communities in high mountains and their re‐assembly under changing climatic conditions. Nevertheless, studies that compare the impact of these factors on plant community assembly above the tree line are largely lacking so far. We analysed occurrence changes in vascular plant communities of 492 permanent 1‐m2 plots in the alpine‐nival ecotone of Mt. Schrankogel, Austrian Alps by comparing resurvey data from 2014 with data from the initial survey in 1994. We combined these data with species inventories from 899 additional plots sampled in 2021 and 2022 across a larger landscape above the tree line covering an elevational range of 1700 m, which we used for fine‐scale habitat suitability modelling. We assessed the relative effects of projected habitat suitability, propagule pressure from surrounding populations and biomass density of neighbours on 1532 colonization and 372 extirpation events of 31 species observed on the permanent plots. We found that all three factors are significantly related to both colonisations and extirpations, with habitat suitability having the strongest, propagule pressure a slightly weaker, and vegetation density the weakest effect. Colonisations can be better explained by the three process proxies than extirpations. Our results indicate a crucial role of dispersal limitation besides the predominant effect of environmental filtering on the (re‐)assembly of the alpine‐nival plant community, while competitive/facilitative effects between plants tend to play a minor role. The strong imprint of nearby source plant populations on colonization/extirpation events suggests that recent plant migrations predominantly occur in small steps. This implies that while the topographically complex alpine terrain offers climatic microrefugia for plants, it may also pose potential barriers, hindering species from following their suitable climatic niches upwards. Synthesis: Besides filtering by environmental conditions dispersal limitation had a strong effect on the observed changes in a local alpine plant community over two decades. Limited dispersal capacities of plant species may counteract the ability of isolated cold areas to effectively shelter high alpine plants from the effects of climate warming.

Brief introduction: What are microclimates and why are they important?Microclimate science has developed into a global discipline. Microclimate science is increasingly used to understand and mitigate climate and biodiversity shifts. Here, we provide an overview of the current status of microclimate ecology and biogeography in terrestrial ecosystems, and where this field is heading next.Microclimate investigations in ecology and biogeography: We highlight the latest research on interactions between microclimates and organisms, including how microclimates influence individuals, and through them populations, communities and entire ecosystems and their processes. We also briefly discuss recent research on how organisms shape microclimates from the tropics to the poles.Microclimate applications in ecosystem management: Microclimates are also important in ecosystem management under climate change. We showcase new research in microclimate management with examples from biodiversity conservation, forestry and urban ecology. We discuss the importance of microrefugia in conservation and how to promote microclimate heterogeneity.Methods for microclimate science: We showcase the recent advances in data acquisition, such as novel field sensors and remote sensing methods. We discuss microclimate modelling, mapping and data processing, including accessibility of modelling tools, advantages of mechanistic and statistical modelling and solutions for computational challenges that have pushed the state-of-the-art of the field.What's next?We identify major knowledge gaps that need to be filled for further advancing microclimate investigations, applications and methods. These gaps include spatiotemporal scaling of microclimate data, mismatches between macroclimate and microclimate in predicting responses of organisms to climate change, and the need for more evidence on the outcomes of microclimate management.