Phytosociological study of Glacier National Park, Montana, USA, with notes on the syntaxonony of alpine vegetation in Western North America
Damm C. 2001. Phytosociological study of Glacier National Park, Montana, USA, with notes on the syntaxonony of alpine vegetation in Western North America. Georg-August University
The alpine and parts of the subalpine vegetation of Glacier National Park, Montana, USA, are investigated using the European phytosociological method of Braun-Blanquet. Based on data of about 700 detailed plot samples, a syntaxonomical classification is presented. The holarctic classes Carici rupestris-Kobresieta bellardi Ohba 1974, Thlaspietea rotundifolii Br.-Bl. 1947, and Salicetea herbaceae Br.-Bl. 1947 reasonably accomodate the Glacier NP alpine vegetation. Local units have been organised in 3 classes, 6 orders, 12 alliances, 32 associations, 26 subassociations, 10 variants, and 7 other communities. For each of these, detailed descriptions are provided. Syntaonomical rank and circumscription, chorology, ecology, and succession dynamics are discussed. In order to accommodate the alpine vegetation of Glacier NP, an area much wider than the study area had to be reviewed, covering the Rocky Mountains south of 53 degrees north, and including the interior ranges to the west and the western coastal mountains north of central Oregon. An overview of western North American alpine vegetation units is presented by means of synoptic tables. Drawn from these tables are conclusions for the syntaxonomic systems of the western North American alpine. In the Carici-Kobresietea, a new order of aline fellfield communities
- Type
- Academic
- Authors
- Damm, Christian
- Date of Issue
- 2001
- Publisher
- Georg-August University
- Units
- GLAC
- Keywords
- alpine vegetation, Braun-Blanquet phytosociological method, Glacier National Park, Thesis