As global climate change leads to warmer and dryer conditions in the central Andes, alpine plant communities are forced to upward displacements following their climatic niche. Species range shifts are predicted to have major impacts on alpine communities by reshuffling species composition and abundances. Using a standardized protocol, we surveyed alpine plant communities in permanent plots on four high Andean summits in NW Argentina, which range from 4040 to 4740 m a.s.l. After a baseline survey in 2006-2008, we re-surveyed the same plots in 2012, and again in 2017. We found a significant decrease in plant cover, species richness and diversity across the elevation gradient in the three censuses, and a strongly decrease in soil temperature along the elevation gradient. We found a high plant community turnover (37-49%) among censuses, differentiating according to summits and aspects; major changes of community turnover were observed in the lowest summit (49%) and on the northern (47%) and western (46%) aspects. Temporal patterns in community changes were represented by increases in plant cover in the highest summit, in richness in the lower summit, and in diversity (Shannon index) in the four summits, over time, with promotion of small herbs and non-tussock grasses. We suggest that the observed trend in plant community dynamics responds to short term temperature and precipitation variability, which is influenced by El Niño Southern oscillation (ENSO), and due to time-lags in plant community response, it may take much longer than one decade for the observed trends to become stables and statistically significant. Our study provides an important foundation for documenting more profound changes in these subtropical alpine plant communities as global climate change continues.

Species cover by aspect and summit at 1m2 plot scalePlant species cover (%) by aspect (N, S, E and W) and summit (1-ALZ, 2-HUA, 3-SIN, 4-ISA) at 1m2 plot scale (mean of four plots by aspect). Total of 16 plot by summit. For base line (2006-08), re-survey 1 (2012) and resurvey 2 (2017), following GLORIA protocol, in Cumbres Calchaquies, Tucuman, Argentina.Data_base_Dryad.xlsx