Climate refugia are locations where plants are able to survive periods of regionally adverse climate. Such refugia may affect evolutionary processes and the maintenance of biodiversity. Numerous refugia have been identified in the context of Quaternary climate oscillations. With climate warming, there is an increasing need to apply insights from the past to characterize potential future refugia. Mountainous regions, due to the provision of spatially heterogeneous habitats, may contain high biodiversity, particularly important during climate oscillations. Here, we highlight the importance of mountaintops as climate refugia, using the example of high-mountain oaks which are distributed on the ranges of the Himalaya–Hengduan Mountains, and at high elevations in tropical rainforests. The occurrences of cold-adapted high-mountain oaks on mountaintops amidst tropical rainforest indicate that such locations are and will be climate refugia as global warming continues. We examine factors that predict the occurrence of future climate refugia on mountaintops using recognized historical refugia. Future research is needed to elucidate the fine-scale processes and particular geographic locations that buffer species against the rapidly changing climate to guide biodiversity conservation efforts under global warming scenarios.

中文翻译：

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全球变暖下的山顶气候是否适合植物？来自热带雨林的高山橡树的教训

气候避难所是植物能够在区域性不利气候时期生存的地方。这种避难所可能影响进化过程和生物多样性的维持。在第四纪气候振荡的背景下，已经发现了许多避难所。随着气候变暖，越来越需要运用过去的见识来描述潜在的未来避难所。由于提供了空间上异质的栖息地，山区可能包含丰富的生物多样性，在气候振荡期间尤为重要。在这里，我们以分布在喜马拉雅–横断山脉和高海拔热带雨林中的高山橡树为例，强调山顶作为气候避难所的重要性。在热带雨林之中的山顶上，出现了适应寒冷的高山橡树，这表明随着全球变暖的继续，这种位置将成为并且将成为气候的避风港。我们研究了使用公认的历史避难所预测山顶未来气候避难所发生的因素。需要进行进一步的研究以阐明在物种变迁中应对气候变化迅速变化的精细过程和特定地理位置，以指导全球变暖情景下的生物多样性保护工作。