Alpine lichen-dominated communities in Alberta and the Yukon

1980 ◽  
Vol 58 (20) ◽  
pp. 2148-2170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne G. See ◽  
L. C. Bliss
Keyword(s):  
Plant Communities ◽  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Regional Differences ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Floristic Composition ◽  
Yukon Territory ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Reciprocal Averaging ◽  
Floristic Similarity ◽  
North Central

Alpine lichen-dominated vegetation is described with emphasis upon floristic composition, quantitative structure, and distribution of lichen communities. Macrolichens and vascular plants were quantitatively sampled using stratified random quadrats (10 cm × 40 cm) in 40 stands (30 m × 5 m) in west-central Alberta and north central Yukon Territory. Comparable acid and basic substrates, and glaciated and unglaciated sites were sampled in each region. Bray-Curtis and reciprocal averaging ordinations were used to analyze vegetation data. For both macrolichens and vascular plants, floristic similarity is greater within each region than on equivalent substrates in different regions. Three alpine macrolichen communities are described in each region which exhibit pronounced regional differences. Cetraria tilesii and Thamnolia subuliformis characterize driest sites in both regions, while Cetraria cucullata indicates mesic habitats. Cladonia spp. dominate acidic Yukon sites; Stereocaulon alpinum and Peltigera aphthosa characterize equivalent Alberta habitats. Vascular plant communities are dominated by Dryas integrifolia and D. octopetala in Alberta and Yukon areas, respectively, with dwarf willow and heath in acidic, mesic sites. Distribution of alpine communities of macrolichens and corresponding vascular plants is more strongly correlated with substate pH and moisture, than with glaciation history. Comparison with other northern studies suggests that these macrolichen communities may be found throughout the Canadian Cordillera where equivalent habitats are present.

Plant community and diversity change due to localized permafrost dynamics in bogs of western Canada

2001 ◽  
Vol 79 (8) ◽  
pp. 983-993 ◽  
Author(s):  
David W Beilman
Keyword(s):  
Multidimensional Scaling ◽  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Species Turnover ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Western Canada ◽  
Permafrost Degradation ◽  
Southern Limit ◽  
Metric Multidimensional Scaling

Localized permafrost formation and melt at the southern limit of permafrost has a large effect on boreal bog plant community structure and diversity in continental western Canada (Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba). Non-metric multidimensional scaling ordinations show that non-permafrost-affected bogs, areas currently underlain by permafrost (frost mounds), and areas of permafrost degradation (internal lawns) have distinct plant communities. Bryophytes respond more strongly than vascular plants to lengthened environmental gradients in the bogs studied. Seventy-two vascular plant and bryophyte species were found, with mean alpha diversity (species richness) similar in bogs and internal lawns (22.6 and 22.1) and lowest on frost mounds (15.6). Beta diversity (species turnover between landforms) is greater for bryophytes (4.22) than vascular plants (2.54). Comparisons within internal lawns show highly variable height above water table, community composition, and species diversity in wet communities and reduced variability as peat accumulates and converges on dry surfaces dominated by Sphagnum fuscum (Schimp.) Klinggr. Overall, localized permafrost dynamics increase bog plant diversity by 47% by introduction of unique dry, shaded (frost mound) and wet, open (internal lawn) conditions absent from non-permafrost-affected bogs, making localized permafrost bogs one of the most bryologically diverse peatland types in western Canada.Key words: peatlands, bryophytes, plant communities, non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination, permafrost, climate change.

Vascular plant communities of a polar oasis at Alexandra Fiord (79° N), Ellesmere Island, Canada

1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 1126-1136 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Muc ◽  
B. Freedman ◽  
J. Svoboda
Keyword(s):  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Detrended Correspondence Analysis ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
Community Types

A cluster analysis was used to apportion 136 stands in a High Arctic lowland among six vascular plant community types. These communities are described on the basis of the average prominence values of vascular species and the total cover of macroalgae, bryophytes, lichens, and vascular plants within the designated clusters of stands. The relationships among the community types was explored by a detrended correspondence analysis. The ordination of stands showed considerable floristic overlap among the most widespread plant communities on the lowland. This largely reflects the microtopographic heterogeneity of the sites, the relatively depauperate flora of the High Arctic, and the considerable ecological amplitude of the most prominent vascular plant species.

scholarly journals Typification of the names and taxonomic status of selected vascular plant taxa described by Max Eugen Heinrich Grütter

Phytotaxa ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 202 (3) ◽  
pp. 231
Author(s):  
Artur Pliszko ◽  
Waldemar Heise
Keyword(s):  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Taxonomic Status ◽  
North Central ◽  
Central Poland ◽  
Floristic Studies ◽  
East Prussia

Max Eugen Heinrich Grütter (30 March 1865–31 March 1897) was a German botanist interested in floristics and taxonomy of vascular plants and mosses (Abromeit 1897). He conducted intensive floristic studies on the territory of the former West and East Prussia, especially in the former West Prussian Province Schwetz (now north-central Poland) where he lived in the small village of Luschkowko (Grütter 1892, 1895a, 1895b, 1895c, 1897). His numerous findings had been frequently cited in “Flora von Ost‑ und Westpreussen” by Abromeit et al. (1898–1940). In 1890–1891, in the course of the floristic expeditions in the former West Prussian Province Schwetz, Grütter found interesting vascular plants which he deemed as new to science. The names of these taxa were validly published in Deutsche botanische Monatsschrift (Grütter 1892).

Some aspects of the vegetation ecology of the Little Qualicum River estuary, British Columbia

1982 ◽  
Vol 60 (8) ◽  
pp. 1447-1460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil K. Dawe ◽  
Eric R. White
Keyword(s):  
Plant Communities ◽  
Soil Type ◽  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
River Estuary ◽  
Dry Weight ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Juncus Balticus ◽  
Major Factors ◽  
Channel Edge

Nine vascular plant communities were determined and mapped from data gathered on the Little Qualicum River estuary, Vancouver Island, B.C., during the period May to September 1978. Those communities comprised 51 species of vascular plants; however, only 10 species occurred with constancies of 20% or greater. Carex lyngbyei, Potentilla pacifica, Juncus balticus, and Agrostis sp. dominated vegetation. Major factors affecting the distribution of the vegetation within the estuary appeared to be site elevation, soil type and texture, and inundating water salinity. Aerial production was dominated by that of the Carex – channel edge community which had a peak aboveground biomass of 1693 g dry weight∙m−2.

Recovery sequence of Picea mariana – Vaccinium uliginosum forests after burning near Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada

1978 ◽  
Vol 56 (17) ◽  
pp. 2020-2030 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Alan Black ◽  
Lawrence C. Bliss
Keyword(s):  
Plant Development ◽  
Picea Mariana ◽  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Qualitative Change ◽  
Reciprocal Averaging ◽  
Recovery Sequence ◽  
Vaccinium Uliginosum ◽  
Quantitative Changes ◽  
Postfire Succession

Picea mariana – Vaccinium uliginosum vegetation was sampled in a north–south transect near Inuvik, N.W.T., Canada. Four stages in the postfire recovery sequence were described. Little qualitative change in vascular plants was found in the transect or with time since burning, although quantitative changes were found to exist. Contrary to vascular plant development, an orderly postfire succession of cryptogamic species was found. The postfire recovery sequence by comparison with other open boreal forest studies has a persistent shrub-dominated stage. Burning, with few exceptions, occurred within 100 years of examination along the transect. Objective analyses by Bray–Curtis ordination and reciprocal averaging ordination were used to analyse the vegetation data and proved useful in the data reduction and interpretation of results.

scholarly journals Different temporal trends in vascular plant and bryophytes communities along elevational gradients over four decades of warming

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoine Becker-Scarpitta ◽  
Diane Auberson-Lavoie ◽  
Mark Vellend
Keyword(s):  
Plant Communities ◽  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Elevation Gradient ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Community Change ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Ecological Communities

Abstract1: Despite many studies showing biodiversity responses to warming, the generality of such responses across taxa remains unclear. Very few studies have tested for evidence of bryophyte community responses to warming, despite the fact that bryophytes are major contributors to diversity in many ecosystems, playing a central role in ecosystem functions. Understanding variation among taxa in their responses to warming is crucial for identifying priorities in conservation.2: We report an empirical study comparing long-term change of bryophyte and vascular plant communities in two sites with contrasting long-term warming trends. To assess long-term responses of ecological communities to warming, we used “legacy” botanical records as a baseline for comparison with contemporary resurveys.We hypothesized that ecological changes would be greater in sites with a stronger warming trends, and that vascular plant communities would be more sensitive than bryophyte communities to climate warming. For each taxon in each site, we quantified the magnitude of changes in species’ distributions along the elevation gradient, species richness, and community composition.3: Temporal changes in vascular plant communities were consistent with the warming hypothesis, but this was not the case for bryophytes. We also did not find clear support for the hypothesis that vascular plants would show greater sensitivity than bryophytes to warming, with results depending on the metric of community change. As predicted for sites with a strong warming trend, we found a significant upward shift in the distributions of vascular plants but not bryophytes.Synthesis: Our results are in accordance with recent literature showing that local diversity can remain unchanged despite strong changes in composition. Regardless of whether one taxon is systematically more or less sensitive to environmental change than another, our results suggest that vascular plants cannot be used as a surrogate for bryophytes in terms of predicting the nature and magnitude of responses to warming. In sites that experienced the same environmental changes, we found that communities of bryophytes and vascular plants did not predictably change in the same ways. Thus, to assess overall biodiversity responses to global change, data from different taxonomical groups and community properties need to be synthesized.

Plant diversity of the Heydari Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Iran, with a checklist of vascular plants

Phytotaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 340 (2) ◽  
pp. 101 ◽  
Author(s):  
ZOHREH ATASHGAHI ◽  
HAMID EJTEHADI ◽  
MANSOOR MESDAGHI ◽  
FERESHTEH GHASSEMZADEH
Keyword(s):  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Life Form ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Floristic Composition ◽  
Transitional Zone ◽  
Mountain Range ◽  
Dissimilarity Index ◽  
Wildlife Refuge ◽  
Kopet Dagh

Heydari Wildlife Refuge (HWR) is located in Binalood mountain range of the Razavi Khorassan Province in Northeastern Iran. The area belongs to the central part of Khorassan-Kopet Dagh floristic province, which is a transitional zone between different phytogeographical units in the Irano-Turanian region. We investigated the floristic composition, life-form spectrum and the phytogeography of the area during 2014–2017 by collecting vascular plants and establishing 443 random-quadrats in representative stands of different vegetation types. A total of 588 vascular plant taxa (species and subspecies) belonging to 304 genera and 65 families are recorded as native and naturalized in the study area. The richest plant families are Asteraceae (40 genera/87 species), Fabaceae (15/72), Poaceae (33/60), Brassicaceae (33/49), Lamiaceae (19/32), and Apiaceae (18/27). The genera Astragalus (44 species), Cousinia (17), and Allium (10) are the richest ones. However, the dominant canopy cover belongs to Acantholimon, Astragalus, Artemisia, and Acanthophyllum species. Raunkiaer’s plant life-form spectrum in the area is dominated by hemicryptophytes (41.50%) and therophytes (28.06%). The core flora of HWR has the Irano-Turanian origin; the widespread elements are also well represented in the study area. Based on the Sørensen dissimilarity index, the HWR has about 50% dissimilarity to the adjacent areas. The study area is inhabited by several Iranian and/or Khorassan-Kopet Dagh endemic (19%), threatened (16%), and narrow-range plant species. The results indicate the importance of the HWR in the plant diversity of NE Iran.

The vegetation and its environments in Maine peatlands

1997 ◽  
Vol 75 (10) ◽  
pp. 1785-1805 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis S. Anderson ◽  
Ronald B. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Pore Water ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Species Distributions ◽  
Species Variation ◽  
Forward Selection ◽  
Multivariate Statistical ◽  
Peat Pore Water ◽  
Minimum Number

This study is based on relevés from 96 peatlands representing the typologic, environmental, and geographic variation of Maine peatlands, and on peat pore-water chemistry at a representative set of 51 of these peatlands. We give optima and tolerances of pH, Ca, P, NO3-N, NH4-N, and influence of upper on lower vegetational strata for the 73 most common vascular plant species, excluding sedges, which are presented elsewhere. The program TWINSPAN differentiated 30 plant communities. Environments of the first seven TWINSPAN divisions differed largely by Ca, pH, P, NH4, Fe, microrelief, substrate depth, degree of humification, and climate. A canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) with forward selection entered pH, P, Na, Fe, Ca, Mg, and percent H2O as the minimum number of variables which best explains species variation. A CCA of the lower strata vascular plants demonstrated the importance of the upper strata (percent overstory) on species' distributions. Gradients of pH–alkalinity and percent overstory are primary in determining Maine's peatland vegetation. Other important gradients are percent H2O in upper peat, concentrations of lithic elements (P, Fe, Mn, Al, and Si) in pore water, and climate. Although these gradients partially covary, some of the variation in species' distributions can be attributed to independent aspects of individual gradients. Species richness across the range of peatland types is related to pH–alkalinity for vascular plants, and to percent H2O, microrelief, and percent overstory for bryophytes. Key words: plant communities, Maine, multivariate statistical analysis, peatlands, mires, vegetation.

scholarly journals VARIABILITY OF THE COMPOSITION AND RATIO OF VASCULAR PLANT LIFE FORMS IN ECOTONE COMMUNITIES OF THE UPPER BORDER OF WOODY VEGETATION IN THE POLAR URALS

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-17
Author(s):  
N.I. Andreyashkina
Keyword(s):  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Floristic Composition ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Polar Urals ◽  
Plant Life Forms ◽  
Plant Life ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Species Similarity ◽  
The Polar Urals

For phytoindication of ecotopic conditions according to the degree of moisture and heat supply, full floristic composition was used in a number of communities and ecotopes within them. Different hydrothermal regimes of ecotopes underlie the distribution of life forms of vascular plants. The spatial heterogeneity of floristic diversity is largely due to a set of species of grassy life forms. Woody life forms are not numerous, but play a significant role in the structure of the vegetation cover. The species richness of communities naturally decreases during the transition from larch forests and woodlands to mountain tundras with single trees. At the same time, communities are largely similar in species composition, and the set of life forms is preserved, but the composition and ratio of different types of life forms change. The transition from smooth variability in the composition and ratio of life forms to markedly increased variability as a result of natural environmental factors is clearly visible, which is correspondingly reflected in a decrease in indicators of species similarity of communities.

Metarbarcoding reveals distribution patterns of DNA in surface sediments of a large lake 

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Wang ◽  
Lisa Gutbrod ◽  
Myriam Schmid ◽  
Laura Epp
Keyword(s):  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Surface Sediments ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Sampling Locations ◽  
Biodiversity Change ◽  
Taxonomic Groups ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
Geographical Locations

<p>Lake sedimentary ancient DNA has become a recognized source of information on past biodiversity change, but our understanding of its distribution and taphonomy is still limited. Here we collected 40 surface sediment samples from Lake Constance in southern Germany and characterized sedimentary DNA (sedDNA) heterogeneity through four metabarcoding PCRs on general eukaryotes, vascular plants, cyanobacteria and copepods.  We observed the variability of overall sedDNA being strongly correlated with sediment sample geographical locations, although this pattern varies within taxonomic groups. Specifically, geographical coordination and water depth explain 10.7% variability of terrestrial vascular plant sedDNA distribution, but the distribution of copepods is patchy and not correlated with sampling locations. Out study indicates that sedDNA is not distributed uniformly across the lake but rather linked to the movement of lake water and the local presence of the organisms.</p>

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