HR: 1340h
AN: U53A-0712    [Abstracts]
TI: The Glacier National Park GLORIA Project: A new US Target Region for Alpine Plant Monitoring Installed in the Northern Rocky Mountains, Montana
AU: Holzer, K
EM: karen_holzer@usgs.gov
AF: USGS Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, USGS Science Center, Glacier National Park, West Glacier, MT 59936 United States
AU: * Fagre, D
EM: dan_fagre@usgs.gov
AF: USGS Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, USGS Science Center, Glacier National Park, West Glacier, MT 59936 United States
AB: The Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA) is an international research network whose purpose is to assess climate change impacts on vegetation in alpine environments worldwide. A standard protocol was developed by the international office in Vienna, Austria, and has specific site requirements and techniques that allow sites to be compared worldwide. This protocol requires four summits to be selected within a target region, covering zonal differences of subalpine to nival, and on each of these summits intensive vegetation plots are set up and monitored on a five year interval. Only three target regions in North America have been completed to date, one in Glacier National Park, Montana, and the other two in the Sierra Nevada and White Mountains, California. The four GLORIA summit plots in Glacier National Park were completed over the summers of 2003 and 2004. Because the Continental Divide bisects Glacier National Park (north to south), we chose summits only East of the divide to stay within a similar climatic pattern. Establishing sites was difficult due to the steep and rocky glaciated terrain and the remoteness of suitable sites that required multi-day approaches. Our highest summit (Seward Mtn. 2717 m) is the northernmost and our lowest summit (Dancing Lady Mtn. 2245 m) is southernmost. Treeline is strongly influenced by terrain and is significantly more variable than in the central Rocky Mountains. This also was true of zonal differences of alpine vegetation. Subalpine and even grassland species were found on the same summits as upper alpine species and areas considered subnival. While different zonal areas often occurred on one summit, they were highly influenced by the aspect and slope of that summit area. Between 51 and 82 vascular plants were documented on each summit. There was a high degree of variability in species diversity and percent cover on each summit that was correlated to directional exposure. The summit morphology caused loose vegetative associations, or micro-communities, that varied with exposure, slope angle, and substrate character. Species that exhibited dominance within the target region were Smelowskia calycina var. americana, Polemonium viscosum, Achillea millefolium, Erigeron compositus var. glabratus, and Potentilla fruticosa L. These species reflected the same variability in percent cover on the four sides of the summit areas as did the vegetation as a whole, but were present on all sides.
DE: 1851 Plant ecology
DE: 1620 Climate dynamics (3309)
SC: Union [U]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting