Format: ORAL

Mara B. Garca 1 Ral Hoffrn Mansoa 2 Marta Quintana-Buil1 Ane Mgica1 Hctor Miranda1 Manuel Pizarro 1 Daniel Gmez1

1 Pyrenean Institute of Ecology, Spanish National Research Council (IPE-CSIC), Av Montañana 1005, 50059 Zaragoza, (Spain) 2 Geoforest-IUCA, Department of Geography and Land Management, University of Zaragoza, Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009 Zaragoza, (Spain)

Mountains are home to a rich biodiversity thanks to the environmental heterogeneity they offer, and considered highly vulnerable to climate change. Indeed, many studies have shown how rapidly mountain land cover is changing in response to both climate change and the abandonment of traditional land uses. However, mountains can also be conceived as mosaics of microclimates that can facilitate the survival of species in the face of contemporary climate change through short migrations, and home to refugia where species withstand climate crisis. In this presentation we combine different approaches to shed light on the characteristics of climatic refugia in the Pyrenean mountain range, as well as their role for the persistence of biodiversity. On the one hand, by deploying numerous small sensors in rough terrain, and thermal images taken from the ground or drones, we identify areas with a narrow thermal range where maximum summer temperatures are damped: climate refugia. On the other hand, based on floristic inventories, we explore what fraction and type of plant diversity inhabits those climate refugia. Finally, from the population monitoring of some unique plants typical of refugia, we demonstrate the environmental stability they offer. The integrity and proper management of mountains, their microclimates and the refuges they shelter, are key to preserving biodiversity in the current climate change scenario.