Interactions between Alpine Tundra Vegetation and Patterned Ground in the Mountains of Southern New Zealand

Ecology ◽  
1961 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. D. Billings ◽  
A. F. Mark
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Alpine Tundra ◽  
Patterned Ground ◽  
Tundra Vegetation

scholarly journals What is the most efficient and effective method for long-term monitoring of alpine tundra vegetation?

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 127-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven D. Mamet ◽  
Nathan Young ◽  
Kwok P. Chun ◽  
Jill F. Johnstone
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Relative Abundance ◽  
Rare Species ◽  
Alpine Tundra ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Vegetation Monitoring ◽  
Tundra Vegetation ◽  
Long Term Monitoring ◽  
Term Monitoring

Nondestructive estimations of plant community characteristics are essential to vegetation monitoring programs. However, there is no universally accepted method for this purpose in the Arctic, partly because not all programs share the same logistical constraints and monitoring goals. Our aim was to determine the most efficient and effective method for long-term monitoring of alpine tundra vegetation. To achieve this, we established 12 vegetation-monitoring plots on a south-facing slope in the alpine tundra of southern Yukon Territory, Canada. Four observers assessed these plots for vascular plant species abundance employing three methods: visual cover (VC) and subplot frequency (SF) estimation and modified point-intercept (PI) (includes rare species present but not intersected by a pin). SF performed best in terms of time required per plot and sensitivity to variations in species richness. All methods were similarly poor at estimating relative abundance for rare species, but PI and VC were substantially better at high abundances. Differences among methods were larger than among observers. Our results suggest that SF is best when the monitoring focus is on rare species or species richness across extensive areas. However, when the focus is on monitoring changes in relative abundance of common species, VC or PI should be preferred.

scholarly journals Topographic Controls on Vegetation Changes in Alpine Tundra of the Changbai Mountains

Forests ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 756 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miaomiao Wu ◽  
Hong He ◽  
Shengwei Zong ◽  
Xinyuan Tan ◽  
Haibo Du ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Altitude ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Scale Effects ◽  
Alpine Tundra ◽  
Changbai Mountains ◽  
Vegetation Changes ◽  
Tundra Vegetation ◽  
Topographic Controls ◽  
Low Altitude

The vegetation of alpine tundra is undergoing significant changes and topography has played a significant role in mediating such changes. The roles of topography varied at different scales. In this study, we intended to identify topographic controls on tundra vegetation changes within the Changbai Mountains of Northeast China and reveal the scale effects. We delineated the vegetation changes of the last three decades using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) time series. We conducted a trend analysis for each pixel to reveal the spatial change and used binary logistic regression models to analyze the relationship between topographic controls at different scales and vegetation changes. Results showed that about 30% of tundra vegetation experienced a significant (p < 0.05) change in the NDVI, with 21.3% attributable to the encroachment of low-altitude plants resulting in a decrease in the NDVI, and 8.7% attributable to the expansion of tundra endemic plants resulting in an increase in the NDVI. Plant encroachment occurred more severely in low altitude than in high altitude, whereas plant expansion mostly occurred near volcanic ash fields at high altitude. We found that plant encroachment tended to occur in complex terrains and the broad-scale mountain aspect had a greater effect on plant encroachment than the fine-scale local aspect. Our results suggest that it is important to include the mountain aspect in mountain vegetation change studies, as most such studies only use the local aspect.

Vegetation and frost activity in an alpine fellfield on the summit of Plateau Mountain, Alberta

1970 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 751-771 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Bryant ◽  
Eliyahu Scheinberg
Keyword(s):  
Soil Profile ◽  
Arctic Tundra ◽  
Flowering Plants ◽  
Alpine Tundra ◽  
Vegetation Changes ◽  
Patterned Ground ◽  
Turf Soils ◽  
Ground Structures ◽  
Terricolous Lichen ◽  
Frost Boil

An ordination of alpine fellfield vegetation of the Highwood Range of Southwestern Alberta, Canada, revealed that it varies continuously in response to frost activity gradients of two scales: (1) annual or historic congeliturbation which has produced sorted patterned ground structures similar to those found in arctic tundra and some temperate zone alpine tundra regions, and (2) diurnal congeliturbation which produces frost boils within the larger sorted patterned ground structures.Long-term frost activity has produced a gradient of ground covered by rock which is associated with the major separation of stands. Along this gradient, vegetation changes gradually from stands dominated by epipetric lichens such as Alectoria minuscula to a Carex–Cetraria alpine turf.Microenvironments produced by the borders of patterned ground features result in a diurnal frost activity gradient associated with the Y-axis of the ordination. The vegetation responds to this gradient as a successional sequence. This sequence runs from denuded frost boils dominated by terricolous lichen species such as Lepraria neglecta and flowering plants such as Salix nivalis to a closed Carex–Cetraria alpine turf. Since reversion to a frost boil may occur at any point in the sequence, this succession seems to be partially a cyclical phenomenon.The degree of soil profile formation corresponds to the degree of vegetational development. Active frost boils contain shallow lithosols which develop into poorly developed Alpine Turf soils with progressive vegetation stability.

scholarly journals Cellular Automata: Simulating Alpine Tundra Vegetation Dynamics in Response to Global Warming

2008 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 256-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanqing A. Zhang ◽  
Michael R. Peterman ◽  
Dorin L. Aun ◽  
Yanming Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Cellular Automata ◽  
Vegetation Dynamics ◽  
Alpine Tundra ◽  
Tundra Vegetation
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