This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Systematics and Biodiversity on 28 May 2014, available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14772000.2014.918061 Establishing a baseline of plant diversity and endemism on a neotropical mountain summit for future comparative studies assessing upward migration: an approach from biogeography and nature conservation 5 Elisabet Safont, Valentí Rull, Teresa Vegas-Vilarrúbia, Bruce K. Holst, Otto Huber, Shingo Nozawa, Yuribia Vivas & Argelia Silva Safont, E. (corresponding author, +34 934031190,
[email protected]), Vegas- Vilarrúbia, T. (+34 934031376,
[email protected]): Department of Ecology, 10 University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain. Safont, E. & Rull, V. (
[email protected]): Palynology & Paleoecology Lab, Botanic Institute of Barcelona (IBB-CSIC-ICUB), Passeig del Migdia s/n, 08038 Barcelona, Spain. Telephone: +34 932890611. Holst, B.K. (
[email protected]): Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, 811 South Palm 15 Avenue, Sarasota, Florida 34236, U.S.A. Telephone: +1 9413665731. Huber, O. (
[email protected]), Nozawa, S. (
[email protected]), Vivas, Y. (
[email protected]) & Silva, A. (
[email protected]): Botanical Institute of Venezuela Dr Tobías Lasser, Av. Salvador Allende, 1053 Caracas, Venezuela. Telephone: +58 2126053970. 20 Running title: Baseline diversity to assess upward migration on a neotropical summit. Research conducted at the Department of Ecology, University of Barcelona. This work was supported by the BBVA Foundation under Grant BIOCON 08-188/09 to Valentí Rull. 25 1 This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Systematics and Biodiversity on 28 May 2014, available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14772000.2014.918061 Abstract Climate change is forcing many plant species to shift their range in search of adequate environmental conditions, being localized endemic species particularly at risk on mountain summits.