Vegetation communities, species distribution and foliar morphology as indicators of climate change on Marion Island

• Other Authors: BERGSTROM, DANA M. (hasPrincipalInvestigator), KINGDOM, DENNA (hasPrincipalInvestigator), KINGDOM, DENNA (processor), KIEFER, KATE (hasPrincipalInvestigator), KIEFER, KATE (processor), Australian Antarctic Data Centre (publisher)
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Australian Antarctic Data Centre
• Subjects: biota; ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS; EARTH SCIENCE; BIOSPHERE; COMMUNITY STRUCTURE; COMMUNITY DYNAMICS; INVASIVE SPECIES; ENDANGERED SPECIES; SPECIES/POPULATION INTERACTIONS; EVOLUTIONARY ADAPTATION; EXTINCTION RATE; MIGRATORY RATES/ROUTES; POPULATION DYNAMICS; RANGE CHANGES; SPECIES COMPETITION; SURVIVAL RATES; ALPINE/TUNDRA; TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS; INDIGENOUS VEGETATION; VEGETATION; PLANT CHARACTERISTICS; VEGETATION COVER; VEGETATION SPECIES; ISLANDS; AGROSTIS MAGELLANICA; MARION ISLAND; FOLIAR MORPHOLOGY; AZORELLA SELAGO; SPECIES DIVERSITY; SUBANTARCTIC; VEGETATION COMMUNITIES; VISUAL OBSERVATIONS; FIELD SURVEYS; OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN > GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR; Southern Ocean; Marion Island; Tundra
• Online Access: https://researchdata.ands.org.au/vegetation-communities-species-marion-island/699358; https://doi.org/10.4225/15/547FF2B952865; https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/ASAC_1015_MarionIs; http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-617536

Altitudinal variations in vegetation community composition, species ranges and foliar morphology were collected on subantarctic Marion Island. Two altitudinal transects on the eastern slopes of the island were sampled for vegetation surface cover and physical environmental attributes, with one transect located on black lava and the other on grey lava soils. Five 1*1m quadrats were randomly located within 25m^2 sites at each 100m rise in altitude, plus an additional two on the coastal lowlands between the lowest altitude site and 100m. Within each quadrat the per cent surface cover of each vascular plant present was determined. Five leaves were obtained from most vascular plant species and traced whilst still wet in order to obtain leaf area, length and width of each leaf. Environmental characteristics of each site were recorded, including unconsolidated substrate depth, aspect, slope and exposure, and soil wetness based on a five point subjective scale. Three soil samples were taken randomly from each site and later analysed for carbon and water content, salinity, conductivity and pH. Each site was located using a Garmin 12XL GPS and altitude determined using a Barigo electronic altitmeter. The dataset consists of Denna Kingdom's thesis, plus references, and raw data. Data has been incorporated into the Biodiversity Database.