Vascular plant distribution in relation to topography, soils and micro-climate at five GLORIA sites in the Snowy Mountains, Australia
C. M. Pickering A C and K. Green BA School of Environment, Gold Coast campus, Griffith University, Qld 4222, Australia.
B Snowy Mountains Region, National Parks and Wildlife Service, PO Box 2228, Jindabyne, NSW 2627, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Email: c.pickering@griffith.edu.au
Australian Journal of Botany 57(3) 189-199 https://doi.org/10.1071/BT08133
Submitted: 30 July 2008 Accepted: 7 May 2009 Published: 29 June 2009
Abstract
As part of the Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments program, the relative contribution of abiotic variables in explaining alpine vegetation was determined for five summits on a spur of Mount Clarke in the Snowy Mountains, Australia. The composition of vascular plant species and life-forms, and topography were determined, and soil nutrients and soil temperature were measured on each aspect of each summit by standardised methods. Ordinations were performed on the composition of vascular plant species and life-forms, topography, soil nutrients and soil temperature-derived variables. Abiotic variables were tested against the biotic dissimilarity matrices to determine which were best correlated with current plant composition. Summits differed in plant composition, with a decrease in the cover of shrubs, and an increase in herbs and graminoids with increasing altitude. Altitude was the main determinant of species composition, accounting for more than 80% of the variation among summits. Soil temperature variables accounted for more than 40% of the variation in composition among summits. Soils were not significantly different among summits, although certain soil variables, principally calcium, were important in predicting plant composition. Because temperature is correlated with current vegetation on these five summits, predicted increased temperatures and decreased snow cover are likely to affect future plant composition in this mountain region.
Acknowledgements
We thank Wendy Hill, Tanya Fountain, Genevieve Wright, Michael Campbell, Roxana Bear, Tim Greville, Kristy Barry, Susanna Venn and Brian Smith, all of whom assisted us in the field, and Wendy Hill and Roxana Bear who also entered data into the GLORIA database. We also thank Michael Arthur for his professional advice regarding the most appropriate ordinations for this type of dataset. We are very grateful to Harald Pauli, Katherine Dickinson and four anonymous reviewers for their comments on the manuscript. The research was supported by the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Bertin L,
Dellavedova R,
Gualmini M,
Rossi G, Tomaselli M
(2001) Monitoring plant diversity in the northern Apennines, Italy. The GLORIA project. Archivio Geobotanico 7, 71–74.
Casty C,
Wanner H,
Luterbacher J,
Esper J, Böhm R
(2005) Temperature and precipitation variability in the European Alps since 1500. International Journal of Climatology 25, 1855–1880.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Clarke KR
(1993) Non-parametric multivariate analyses of changes in community structure. Australian Journal of Ecology 18, 117–143.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Clarke KR, Ainsworth M
(1993) A method of linking multivariate community structure to environmental variables. Marine Ecology Progress Series 92, 205–219.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Clarke KR,
Somerfield PJ, Chapman MG
(2006) On resemblance for ecological studies, including taxonomic dissimilarities and a zero-adjusted Bray–Curtis coefficient for denuded assemblages. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 330, 55–80.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Coldea G, Pop A
(2004) Floristic diversity in relation to geomorphological and climatic factors in the subalpine-alpine belt of the Rodna Mountains (The Romanian Carpathians). Pirineos 61, 158–159.
Erschbamer B,
Mallaun M, Unterluggauer P
(2006) Plant diversity along altitudinal gradients in the southern and central Alps of Southern Tyrol and Trentino (Italy). Grebleriana 6, 47–68.
Grabherr G,
Gottfried M, Pauli H
(1994) Climate effects on mountain plants. Nature 369, 448.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Grabherr G,
Gottfried M, Pauli H
(2000) GLORIA: a global observation research initiative in alpine environments. Mountain Research and Development 20, 190–191.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Green K, Pickering CM
(2009) The decline of snowpatches in the Snowy Mountains of Australia: importance of climate warming, variable snow and wind. Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research 41, 212–218.
| Crossref |
Kanka R,
Kollar J, Barancok P
(2005) Monitoring of climate change impacts on alpine vegetation in the Tatry Mts- First Approach. Ekologia (Bratislava) 24, 411–418.
Kazakis G,
Ghosn D,
Vogiatzakis IN, Papanastasis VP
(2007) Vascular plant diversity and climate change in the alpine zone of Lefka Ori, Crete. Biodiversity and Conservation 16, 1603–1615.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Kirkpatrick JB, Bridle KL
(1999) Environmental and floristics of ten Australian alpine vegetation formations. Australian Journal of Botany 47, 1–21.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Körner C, Paulsen J
(2004) A world-wide study of high altitude treeline temperatures. Journal of Biogeography 31, 713–732.
Lesica P, McCune B
(2004) Decline of arctic-alpine plants at the southern margin of their range following a decade of climatic warming. Journal of Vegetation Science 15, 679–690.
Mark AF,
Dickinson KJM,
Maegli T, Halloy SRP
(2006) Two GLORIA long-term alpine monitoring sites established in New Zealand as part of a global network. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 36, 111–128.
Matejovic I
(1997) Determination of carbon and nitrogen in samples of various soils by the dry combustion. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis 28, 1499–1511.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
Minchin PR
(1987) An evaluation of the relative robustness of techniques for ecological ordination. Vegetatio 69, 89–107.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Pauli H,
Gottfried M,
Reiter K,
Klettner C, Grabherr G
(2007) Signals of range expansion and contractions of vascular plants in the high Alps: observations (1994–2004) at the GLORIA master site Schrankogel, Tyrol, Austria. Global Change Biology 13, 147–156.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Pickering CM, Armstrong T
(2003) Potential impact of climate change on plant communities in the Kosciuszko alpine zone. Victorian Naturalist 120, 263–272.
Pickering CM,
Hill W, Green K
(2008) Vascular plant diversity and climate change in the alpine zone of the Snowy Mountains, Australia. Biodiversity and Conservation 17, 1627–1644.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Stanisci A,
Pelino G, Blasi C
(2005) Vascular plant diversity and climate change in the alpine belt of the central Apennines (Italy). Biodiversity and Conservation 14, 1301–1318.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Van de Ven CM,
Weiss SB, Ernst WG
(2007) Plant species distributions under present conditions and forecasted for warmer climates in an arid mountain range. Earth Interactions 11, 1–33.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Walker PH, Costin AB
(1971) Atmospheric dust accession in south-eastern Australia. Australian Journal of Soil Research 9, 1–5.
| Crossref |
Walther G-R,
Beißner S, Burga CA
(2005) Trends in upward shift of alpine plants. Journal of Vegetation Sciences 16, 541–548.
Wardle P, Coleman MC
(1992) Evidence for rising upper limits of four native New Zealand forest trees. New Zealand Journal of Botany 30, 303–314.
