caa a22 4500 605527814 CHVBK 20210128100810.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20150801xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10531-015-0909-5 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10531-015-0909-5 The silent extinction: climate change and the potential hybridization-mediated extinction of endemic high-mountain plants [Elektronische Daten] [José Gómez, Adela González-Megías, Juan Lorite, Mohamed Abdelaziz, Francisco Perfectti] Most global-warming models predict an altitudinal movement of plants. This upward migration of lowland species will surely result in contact with related species inhabiting high-mountain ecosystems. We propose that an overlooked consequence of this upland movement is the possibility for interspecific hybridization between narrowly endemic alpine plants and widely distributed lowland plants. Genetic swamping due to introgressive hybridization might even lead to the genetic extinction of the endemic species, without any apparent detrimental demographic effect. Unfortunately, this phenomenon has long been ignored in the ecological literature, probably because is widely assumed that the ecological effects of climate change are more detrimental than its genetic effects. We tested our idea by searching for human-induced hybridization in a worldwide hotspot biodiversity, the high-mountains of the Sierra Nevada (south-eastern Spain). About 25% of the endemic flora is already hybridizing in these mountains, mostly with widespread lowland congeners. Some species are even already threatened due to genetic swamping. It is thereby urgent including in future conservation agendas a protocol for detecting and monitoring positive and negative effects of genetic swamping mediated by climate change in high mountains and other sensitive ecosystems. Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht, 2015 Altitudinal movements nationallicence Global warming nationallicence Introgression nationallicence Plant conservation policy nationallicence Sierra Nevada nationallicence Gómez José Departamento de Ecología Funcional y Evolutiva, Estación Experimental de Zonas Aridas (EEZA-CSIC), Ctra de Sacramento s/n, La Cañada de San Urbano, 04120, Almería, Spain aut González-Megías Adela Departamento de Zoología, Universidad de Granada, 18071, Granada, Spain aut Lorite Juan Departamento de Botánica, Universidad de Granada, 18071, Granada, Spain aut Abdelaziz Mohamed Biological and Environmental Sciences, School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, FK9 4LA, Stirling, UK aut Perfectti Francisco Departamento de Genética, Universidad de Granada, 18071, Granada, Spain aut Biodiversity and Conservation Springer Netherlands 24/8(2015-08-01), 1843-1857 0960-3115 24:8<1843 2015 24 10531 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0909-5 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 review-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0909-5 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Gómez José Departamento de Ecología Funcional y Evolutiva, Estación Experimental de Zonas Aridas (EEZA-CSIC), Ctra de Sacramento s/n, La Cañada de San Urbano, 04120, Almería, Spain aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- González-Megías Adela Departamento de Zoología, Universidad de Granada, 18071, Granada, Spain aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Lorite Juan Departamento de Botánica, Universidad de Granada, 18071, Granada, Spain aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Abdelaziz Mohamed Biological and Environmental Sciences, School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, FK9 4LA, Stirling, UK aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Perfectti Francisco Departamento de Genética, Universidad de Granada, 18071, Granada, Spain aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Biodiversity and Conservation Springer Netherlands 24/8(2015-08-01), 1843-1857 0960-3115 24:8<1843 2015 24 10531