HR: 1340h
AN: U53A-0711    [Abstracts]
TI: A New GLORIA Target Region in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA; Alpine Plant Monitoring For Global Climate Change
AU: Dennis, A
EM: adennis@calflora.org
AF: CalFlora, 937 San Pablo Ave., Albany, CA 94706 United States
AU: * Millar, C I
EM: cmillar@fs.fed.us
AF: USDA Forest Service, PSW Research Station, P.O. Box 245, Berkeley, CA 94701 United States
AU: Murrell, K E
EM: kemurrell@ucdavis.edu
AF: University of California, Dept of Environmental Horticulture, Davis, CA 95616 United States
AB: The Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA) is an international research project with the goal to assess climate change impacts on vegetation in alpine environments worldwide. Standardized protocols direct selection of each node in the network, called a target region, which consists of a set of four geographically proximal mountain summits at elevations extending from treeline to the nival zone. For each summit, GLORIA specifies a rigorous mapping and sampling design for data collection, with re-measurement intervals of five years. Whereas target regions have been installed in six continents, prior to 2004 none was completed in North America. In cooperation with the Consortium for Integrated Climate Research in Western Mountains (CIRMOUNT), three target regions were completed by September 2004, one in the Sierra Nevada, California, one in the White Mountains, California, and one in Glacier National Park, Montana. The SIERRA NEVADA (GLORIA code: SND) target region lies along the Sierra Nevada crest in the Yosemite National Park/Mono Lake region. The four summits well represent the GLORIA design standards, being little visited by climbers, outside domestic grazing allotments, relatively rounded in shape, situated within one climate region, related substrate types (metamorphic), and extending from treeline to the highest elevation zones in the area. The four summits include the subordinate peak of Mt Dunderberg (3744m), two lesser peaks of Mt Dunderberg (3570m and 3322m) and a summit along the Yosemite National Park boundary region south of Mt Conness (3425m). Preliminary data indicate that numbers of vascular plant species, from lowest to highest summit, were 40, 36, 12, 22 (total for SN, 67). Only 1 species (Elymus elymoides ssp. californicus) occurred on all four summits; 8 species occurred on three summits; no exotic species was detected. The most distant summit, also most distinct in substrate, had the largest number of unique species. The genus Carex (Cyperaceae) had the most species represented (five). Only one tree species (Pinus albicaulis) occurred within the summit areas. Data analysis of the baseline measurements has just begun; the standardized GLORIA protocols will enable direct comparisons among summits within the target region, across target regions in California, among the three target regions in North America, and with established GLORIA regions in other continents.
DE: 1851 Plant ecology
DE: 1620 Climate dynamics (3309)
DE: 0400 Biogeosciences
SC: Union [U]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting