HR: 1340h
AN: GC13B-1243    [Abstracts]
TI: GLORIA Alpine Plant Monitoring in the White Mountains
AU: * Jayko, A
EM: ajayko@usgs.gov
AF: US Geological Survey, 3000 E. Line St., Bishop, CA 93514 United States
AU: Powell, F L
EM: fpowell@ucsd,edu
AF: White Mountain Research Station, 3000 E. Line St., Bishop, CA 93514 United States
AU: Smiley, J T
EM: jsmiley@wmrs.edu
AF: White Mountain Research Station, 3000 E. Line St., Bishop, CA 93514 United States
AU: Pritchett, D W
EM: skypilots@wmrs.edu
AF: White Mountain Research Station, 3000 E. Line St., Bishop, CA 93514 United States
AU: Dennis, A
GC13B-1243 AF: CalFlora, 937 San Pablo Ave, Berkeley, CA 94706 United States
AU: Millar, C I
GC13B-1243 AF: USDA Forest Service PSW Research Station, Box 245, Berkeley, CA 94701 United States
AB: In collaboration with the USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station and the California Native Plant Society, the University of California White Mountain Research Station established new GLORIA monitoring sites on three summits in the White Mountains of Eastern California in summer 2005. The GLORIA protocol has now been implemented on seven summits in the White Mountains in the past two summers. The GLORIA (Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments: www.gloria.ac.at/) project is a worldwide initiative for long-term monitoring of climate effects on alpine peaks. This year the protocol was used on summits composed primarily of carbonate (limestone and dolomite) rocks, which ranged from 3478 m to 3735 m in elevation. These suumits contrast with those sampled last year which were composed of granitic and metavolcanic rock. For each summit we followed the GLORIA sampling design and recorded plant species composition, cover, and frequency. We installed dataloggers to measure soil temperature, and researchers from the University of California Merced took soil samples for analysis of soil composition and micro-biota. We had multiple botanists make cover estimates of the same Summit Area Section to assess repeatability of such estimates and we expanded the protocol to include delineation of fixed area (10 m x 10 m) plots within the standard GLORIA Summit Area Sections. Cover and species composition were measured in the fixed area plots as well as in the full Summit Area Sections. This addition to the protocol greatly facilitated calibration of ocular cover estimates for the irregularly-shaped sometimes-very-large Summit Area Sections and will also facilitate comparisons of data among different sites if it is implemented elsewhere. A butterfly census was conducted for the first time in conjunction with sampling. Next year we hope to expand monitoring to gather data on small mammals and focus on sampling at (current) upper elevation limits of selected taxa.
UR: http://www.wmrs.edu/projects/GLORIA%20project/default.htm
DE: 0410 Biodiversity
DE: 0439 Ecosystems, structure and dynamics (4815)
DE: 0456 Life in extreme environments
DE: 0476 Plant ecology (1851)
DE: 1616 Climate variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513)
SC: Global Climate Change [GC]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005