STRUCTURAL PATTERN IN ALPINE TUNDRA VEGETATION

• Published in: American Journal of Botany
• Main Author: Welden, Charles
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1985
• Subjects: Tundra
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/j.1537-2197.1985.tb05350.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fj.1537-2197.1985.tb05350.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/j.1537-2197.1985.tb05350.x

Several aspects of the spatial pattern of plants were investigated in six very different stands in the alpine tundra of the Colorado Front Range. Pattern was related to the internal structure of the stands, to interactions among the species, and to microhabitats within the stands. Evidence from species‐species associations and species ordinations clearly divided the stands into two groups. The first was characterized by thin, coarse, unstable soils, low plant cover, and nurse‐plant establishment. The second group was characterized by deeper, more mature, and more stable soils, higher plant cover, and more competition between species. Pattern evidence allowed some species to be categorized as competitors, ruderals, or stress‐tolerators in the context of the alpine vegetation. The two groups of stands also differed in the relative importance of species with these “strategies.”