Format: ORAL

Cirera-Sancho, Alberto, Tejero-Ibarra, Pablo, Palacio-Blasco, Sara

Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología IPE-CSIC, Jaca, Spain.

Among mountain environments, vertical rocky outcrops present especially extreme conditions for plant life. These outcrops are characterized by the strong effect of gravity, minimal soil presence, limited water and nutrients, and challenging seed dispersal. In response to these conditions, certain plant species have undergone evolutionary processes that have enabled them to adapt to life on rocks, but, is there any shared trait or common strategy between specialist rupicolous plants? This study aims to be a first step into addressing this question, focusing it in a more concrete field: calcareous mountain cliffs in the Pyrenees. For this purpose, 10 rupicolous species and 10 generalist plant species were selected, each paired between them, with a genetically closely related counterpart to control for phylogenetic factors. Various functional traits were measured for each species, including leaf area, specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content, leaf thickness, flower area, plant size and leaf nutrient concentration. Preliminary results indicate that rupicolous plants tend to exhibit a more compact trait niche, suggesting a narrower range of adaptations that allow them to survive in such harsh environments. Additionally, these plants seem to display smaller size, leaf area and SLA compared to their generalist counterparts. Further systematic studies in other vertical cliff environments are encouraged to enhance our understanding of the adaptations in rupicolous plants.