PHOTOPLANT - Response of arctic and alpine ecosystems to photoperiod-climate interaction in the context of climate change

Photoperiod is an ecological factor that functions as a regulator of various phenological and physiological processes that has been overlooked by the literature in the context of local adaptation and plant response to climate change. Considering that photoperiod will remain constant, but temperature warming is expected to increase faster in the arctic than in the alpine systems and precipitation will increase in the former area and will be more irregular in the latter, an interaction between photoperiod and climate is expected to affect plant response to climate change in arctic and alpine ecosystems. PHOTOPLANT aims to experimentally test the interaction between photoperiod and climate (temperature, water availability) in arctic and alpine grassland species. Plant response to photoperiod, temperature and water availability is evaluated in terms of local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity. This is the firststudy including photoperiod as an ecological factor in the response of arctic and alpine plant species and ecosystems to climate change. Reciprocal transplanting of vegetation swards and species from arctic and alpine sites is for the first time applied along a latitudinal gradient. Expected applications are in the field of ecological restoration, conservation and management such as, assisted colonisation, plant translocation, restoration of degraded and fragmented habitats, management of alpine systems, maintenance and management of ecosystem services.