Conclusions
In our study, drier conditions at lower elevations drove the demographic responses of alpine plants. Thus, alpine species with large size and conservative water use were more likely to benefit from the climate change. Both morphological and eco-physiological traits were successful in separating the “winners” of climate change from the “losers”. Our study shows that while easy-to-measure morphological traits can generate successful predictions of demographic responses to climate, eco-physiological knowledge allows us to understand the mechanism behind the trait-environment relationships.