Victorian Alpine Plot Network (Alpine Summit Plots): Lowland-to-highland Roadside Transects Data, South-East Highlands, Australia, 2017

• Other Authors: Dr John Morgan (hasAssociationWith), Dr Carl-Henrik A Wahren (hasAssociationWith), Ary Hoffmann (hasAssociationWith)
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: The Australian National University
• Subjects: ECOLOGY; BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; PLANTS; EARTH SCIENCE; BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION; ALPINE/TUNDRA; BIOSPHERE; TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS; LTERN Monitoring Theme:Vegetation structure; LTERN Monitoring Theme:Plant species composition; LTERN Monitoring Theme:Plant species abundance; LTERN Monitoring Theme:Individual plants; keyword:Alpine National Park; keyword:Species richness; keyword:Compositional changes; keyword:Weed invasion; keyword:Altitudinal gradient; Victorian Alpine; Summit Plots; Lowland-to-highland Roadside Transects; Tundra
• Online Access: https://researchdata.ands.org.au/victorian-alpine-plot-australia-2017/1358598; https://datacommons.anu.edu.au/DataCommons/item/anudc:5861; https://doi.org/10.25911/5c105f4940fb2

This Victorian Alpine Plot Network Road Transects Data Package comprises transect-based vegetation data for Lowland-to-highland Roadside Transects in the South-East Highlands, Australia. These data have been used against background quadrat data to test a hypothesis about roads as vectors for dispersal of invasive species. Plots are located at attitudinally stratified intervals along five attitudinally-stratified transects. The transects follow major roads and management tracks in the Victorian Alps. Each road is divided into 20 altitudinal sectors in which a single plot is situated. Within each plot, all species are identified and are assigned cover scores. The Alpine Summit plots study, which commenced in 2001, forms part of the collection of data packages by the Victorian Alpine Plot Network. A synopsis of related data packages which have been collected as part of the Victorian Alpine Plot Network’s full program is provided at https://doi.org/10.25911/5c11c3d283b0e. Method: The data collection protocol follows the guidelines of the Mountain Invasion Research Network (MIREN; http://www.mountaininvasions.org/). The aim is to determine which exotic (and native) species are where on mountain roadsides and are using these data against background quadrat data collected over past years and decades to test hypotheses about roads as vectors for dispersal of invasive species. Study extent: These data aim to document the distribution of exotic (and native) species from foothills to mountain summits along transport corridors. Project funding: Parks Victoria, Mt Hotham Alpine Resort. Between 2012 and 2018 this project has been part of the Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN). LTERN is a Facility within the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN). TERN is supported by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy.