Diversity 2011, 3, 91-111; doi:10.3390/d3010091 OPEN ACCESS diversity ISSN 1424-2818 www.mdpi.com/journal/diversity Article The Impact of Climate Change on Recent Vegetation Changes on Dovrefjell, Norway Ottar Michelsen 1,*, Anne Olga Syverhuset 2, Bård Pedersen 2 and Jarle Inge Holten 2,3 1 The Industrial Ecology Programme, Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 7491 Trondheim, Norway 2 Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 7491 Trondheim, Norway; E-Mails:
[email protected] (A.S.);
[email protected] (B.P.);
[email protected] (J.H.) 3 Terrestrisk Miljøforskning, 7550 Hommelvik, Norway * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +47-73598719; Fax: +47-73593580. Received: 9 November 2010 / Accepted: 12 January 2011 / Published: 28 January 2011 Abstract: The ongoing climate warming has been reported to affect a broad range of organisms, and mountain ecosystems are considered to be particularly sensitive because they are limited by low temperatures. Meteorological data show an increased temperature for the alpine areas at Dovrefjell, Norway, causing a prolonged growing season and increased temperature sum. As part of the worldwide project Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA), the short-term changes in vascular plant species richness, species composition of lichen and vascular plant communities, and abundance of single species were studied at four summits representing an altitudinal gradient from the low alpine to the high alpine zone. During the period from 2001 to 2008, an increase in species richness at the lowest summit, as well as a change in the composition of vascular plant communities, was found at the two lowest summits.