Origin of steppe flora and fauna in inner-Alpine dry valleys
The following topics will be tackled in this project: (1) Did the steppe biota colonise each Alpine dry valley independently or is there evidence for genetic exchange among the insular steppe habitats of different valleys? (2) What are the biogeographic connections of steppe biota from the Alpine dry valleys with other areas of steppe vegetation in Eurasia? (3) Are phylogeographic patterns seen in steppe plants and animals congruent, implying range shifts of entire communities or rather idiosyncratic suggesting individualistic responses to climatic oscillations? (4) Our phylogeographic approach will unravel intraspecific patterns of spatial differentiation and temporal diversification across steppe plant and animal lineages. These will then not only be compared to each other, but also to independent data sources. Changes of distribution ranges of our study taxa through time will be hindcasted using environmental niche modelling. Finally, we aim to synthesize our results gained from the molecular investigations with palaeoecological evidence to provide a complete picture of the history of the steppe vegetation in and around the Alps during the Pleistocene and the Holocene.
Funding
Austrian Science Fund (FWF), P25955 (PI: Peter Schönswetter)
Collaborators at the University of Innsbruck, Institute of Ecology
Florian M. Steiner [Link]
Birgit C. Schlick-Steiner [Link]
Wolfgang Arthofer [Link]
Philipp Kirschner [Link]
External Collaborators
Andreas Hilpold, Naturmuseum Südtirol, Bozen/Bolzano, Italy [Link]
Nadir Alvarez, Université de Lausanne, Switzerland, [Link]
Ovidiu Paun, Faculty Centre Biodiversity, University of Vienna, Austria [Link]
Isabel Sanmartín, Real Jardín Botánico, Madrid, Spain [Link]
Personnel of the Department of Botany involved
Peter Schönswetter
Božo Frajman