Alpine vegetation composition, structure, and soils monitoring for Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve: 2009 summary report

Ashton, Isabel; Britten, Mike; Shorrock, Donna; Schweiger, Billy

Alpine ecosystems are important monitoring targets for the Rocky Mountain Inventory and Monitoring Network (ROMN) for a number of reasons, including their value to park visitors, wildlife, and water resources in the West and because the alpine is particularly vulnerable to climate change. Here, we present a summary of our efforts in 2008-2009 to monitor vegetation composition, structure, and soils in the alpine of Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve (GRSA). We found the following: • In 2008, an alpine monitoring site was established at GRSA following the guidance from the Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA) whereby the park became part of an international effort to monitor biodiversity and climate change in the alpine. • In 2009, a GLORIA sentinel site was established at four unnamed peaks between Mount Herard and Music Pass varying in elevation from 3550 to 4000 m. • There were 83 species of vascular plants identified from the four peaks. The peaks differed in the number of species present, specifically, the highest peak, SIX, supported only 46 species and the lowest peak HUK had 60 species. • The four peaks are generally characterized by stable soils, high vegetation cover, low exotic species cover, and minimal human and herbivore disturbance. • For the winter of 2008-2009, mean daily temperatures remained below freezing for most of the period between October and May. In 2009, we increased the network of temperature dataloggers in the alpine at GRSA and will track soil temperatures on the north, east, south, and west side of each summit.In 2009, we found the alpine tundra at the four sentinel sites in GRSA to be a system little impacted by human disturbance or exotic species. Climate change and increasing atmospheric deposition of nutrients are the greatest threats to alpine systems in GRSA. Continued monitoring of the vegetation and temperature at sentinel sites will allow us to determine whether climate change correlates with changes in biodiversity in the alpine. Warmer temperatures in the future may contribute to the extinction of some plant species while simultaneously increasing the elevation and latitudinal limitations of other species.

Alpine vegetation composition, structure, and soils monitoring for Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve: 2009 summary report

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