Relevance of snow cover in the implementation of plant conservation and restoration and restoration plans in high mountain peaks: Are we ready to lose the snow in the Mediterranean mountains?

Relevance of snow cover in the implementation of plant conservation and restoration and restoration plans in high mountain peaks: Are we ready to lose the snow in the Mediterranean mountains? | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Relevance of snow cover in the implementation of plant conservation and restoration and restoration plans in high mountain peaks: Are we ready to lose the snow in the Mediterranean mountains? Jose Antonio Algarra Avila, Paloma Cariñanos, María del Mar Ramos-Lorente This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3164954/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study aims to analyse the effects that snow cover may have on the survival of one-year-old seedlings from 15 different taxa in high Mediterranean mountains (Sierra Nevada National ParK, SE Spain) in order to have a clear criteria for the planning and management of restoration efforts in these environments. Additionally, the influence of variables that have been scarcely explored up to now is also revised. Using the survival rates of the seedlings carried out in the ecological restoration trial as a reference value, the achieved success (survival) is analysed based on a series of variables to evaluate their effects. The results confirm that the permanence of snow is a favourable variable for plant survival, independently of the plant community. Contrastly, a specific substrate (stones and rocks) stands out for being clearly unfavourable, regardless of other variables. For altitude, a clear tendency to worsen the survival rate is observed as it increases. The species’ geographic ranges were all shown to be unfavourable for those taxa of boreo-alpine distribution. Solar radiation seems to be a more unfavourable variable as it increases. And finally, the plant community does not significantly impact results in any sense. These results provide novel indications to improve the results of restoration work in Mediterranean high mountains. It is also valuable for the management and cataloguing of threatened flora, as well as they have direct applications in Recovery Plans and Protection Lists. Mediterranean high summits Snowpacks Sierra Nevada National Park Adaptive management seedlings Chorological limit Full Text Supplementary Files SNOW2023SUPPLEMENTARYINFORMATION.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-3164954","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":220230129,"identity":"edca5a99-4ba7-4b37-9058-ff507eacb7d8","order_by":0,"name":"Jose Antonio Algarra Avila","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA60lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACxgYQWQBhPwASPHzEaTEAs5lBFA8bcXZBtLBJgElCipnb2x8++GFQK28++/Czyq85djJsDMwPH93A57CeM8aGPQbHDeecSzO7LbstGegwNmPjHHxaZuSwSfAYHGOcwcNgdltyGzNQCw+bNH4t6c9//jE4Zj+Dh/1bseS2emK0JJgx8xjUJM7g4TFj/LjtMBFagH6RljE4kAzUUizNuO04DxszAb8YAkPs45uKOlugwzZ+/Lmt2p6fvfnhY7xaGsDUYTDJzAMm8SgHAXkIVQdx5Q8CqkfBKBgFo2BkAgCAFELZPnlyfwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0648-2034","institution":"The Environment and Water Agency of Andalusia","correspondingAuthor":true,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jose","middleName":"Antonio Algarra","lastName":"Avila","suffix":""},{"id":220230130,"identity":"c1f69523-abd2-4b01-b25f-36ea607d3390","order_by":1,"name":"Paloma Cariñanos","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Granada: Universidad de Granada","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Paloma","middleName":"","lastName":"Cariñanos","suffix":""},{"id":220230131,"identity":"3f9286a0-40c2-45dd-bd6d-1d9589f14a46","order_by":2,"name":"María del Mar Ramos-Lorente","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Granada: Universidad de Granada","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"María","middleName":"del Mar","lastName":"Ramos-Lorente","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2023-07-12 20:46:25","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3164954/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3164954/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":43950961,"identity":"c3e72bcd-c0c1-4eb4-9a7d-269eb749aa3c","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2023-10-01 19:35:31","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":849665,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SNOW2023.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-3164954/v1_covered_c9a939c4-f999-4c5f-b351-2e6ec18e2a57.pdf"},{"id":40563730,"identity":"10fa4397-e4d8-4cc3-ac6c-7f355e136eb2","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2023-07-25 19:52:38","extension":"pdf","order_by":5,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":969688,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SNOW2023SUPPLEMENTARYINFORMATION.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-3164954/v1/f03cebe4c45fbf2b419f4000.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"","formattedTitle":"Relevance of snow cover in the implementation of plant conservation and restoration and restoration plans in high mountain peaks: Are we ready to lose the snow in the Mediterranean mountains?","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Mediterranean high summits, Snowpacks, Sierra Nevada National Park, Adaptive management, seedlings, Chorological limit","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3164954/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3164954/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"This study aims to analyse the effects that snow cover may have on the survival of one-year-old seedlings from 15 different taxa in high Mediterranean mountains (Sierra Nevada National ParK, SE Spain) in order to have a clear criteria for the planning and management of restoration efforts in these environments. 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