Vegetation ecology and classification in the Antarctic Zone
A review is presented of plant community ecology within the Antarctic Botanical Zone. The vegetation is formed largely of mosses, lichens, and algae but hepatics also occur and two native species of flowering plants are locally abundant. A hierarchical classification is outlined in which the vegetat...
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Canadian Science Publishing
1979
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b79-273 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/b79-273 |
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/b79-273 2023-12-17T10:21:04+01:00 Vegetation ecology and classification in the Antarctic Zone Longton, R. E. 1979 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b79-273 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/b79-273 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Botany volume 57, issue 20, page 2264-2278 ISSN 0008-4026 Plant Science journal-article 1979 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/b79-273 2023-11-19T13:39:04Z A review is presented of plant community ecology within the Antarctic Botanical Zone. The vegetation is formed largely of mosses, lichens, and algae but hepatics also occur and two native species of flowering plants are locally abundant. A hierarchical classification is outlined in which the vegetation is divided into two formations dominated, respectively, by flowering plants and by cryptogams. The antarctic nonvascular cryptogam tundra formation comprises eight physiognomically distinct subformations, while associations within subformations are recognized on the basis of constancy, and sociations within associations by cover of the dominant species. It is shown that the classification is applicable at a range of climatically diverse localities in the maritime and continental Antarctic regions. The position of the Antarctic communities in relation to worldwide and polar–alpine vegetation classification is briefly discussed.Low summer temperature is suggested as a major factor determining the essentially cryptogamic nature of Antarctic vegetation. Water availability and exposure appear to be of primary importance in controlling the distribution of the cryptogamic growth form types, both within localities in the vegetationally relatively diverse maritime Antarctic, and between the maritime and the more sparsely vegetated continental regions. With certain exceptions, there appear to be few successional relationships between the major vegetation types. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Tundra Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) Antarctic The Antarctic Canadian Journal of Botany 57 20 2264 2278 |
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Open Polar |
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Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Plant Science |
spellingShingle |
Plant Science Longton, R. E. Vegetation ecology and classification in the Antarctic Zone |
topic_facet |
Plant Science |
description |
A review is presented of plant community ecology within the Antarctic Botanical Zone. The vegetation is formed largely of mosses, lichens, and algae but hepatics also occur and two native species of flowering plants are locally abundant. A hierarchical classification is outlined in which the vegetation is divided into two formations dominated, respectively, by flowering plants and by cryptogams. The antarctic nonvascular cryptogam tundra formation comprises eight physiognomically distinct subformations, while associations within subformations are recognized on the basis of constancy, and sociations within associations by cover of the dominant species. It is shown that the classification is applicable at a range of climatically diverse localities in the maritime and continental Antarctic regions. The position of the Antarctic communities in relation to worldwide and polar–alpine vegetation classification is briefly discussed.Low summer temperature is suggested as a major factor determining the essentially cryptogamic nature of Antarctic vegetation. Water availability and exposure appear to be of primary importance in controlling the distribution of the cryptogamic growth form types, both within localities in the vegetationally relatively diverse maritime Antarctic, and between the maritime and the more sparsely vegetated continental regions. With certain exceptions, there appear to be few successional relationships between the major vegetation types. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Longton, R. E. |
author_facet |
Longton, R. E. |
author_sort |
Longton, R. E. |
title |
Vegetation ecology and classification in the Antarctic Zone |
title_short |
Vegetation ecology and classification in the Antarctic Zone |
title_full |
Vegetation ecology and classification in the Antarctic Zone |
title_fullStr |
Vegetation ecology and classification in the Antarctic Zone |
title_full_unstemmed |
Vegetation ecology and classification in the Antarctic Zone |
title_sort |
vegetation ecology and classification in the antarctic zone |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
1979 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b79-273 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/b79-273 |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Tundra |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Tundra |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Botany volume 57, issue 20, page 2264-2278 ISSN 0008-4026 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/b79-273 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Botany |
container_volume |
57 |
container_issue |
20 |
container_start_page |
2264 |
op_container_end_page |
2278 |
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1785529289578381312 |