ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION O F SOME SELECTED VASCULAR SPECIES IN THE ARCTIC ENVIRONMENT O F NY-ALESUND, SVALBARD, IN RELATION TO SOIL MOISTURE CONDITIONS

• Main Authors: Satoru Kojima, Naoya Wada
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Svalbard; Cassiope tetragona; Cerastium arcticum; Dryas octopetala; Oxyria digyna; Polygonum viviparum
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.515.5435; http://www3.u-toyama.ac.jp/cfes/wada/pdf_papers/Kojima%26Wada1999PB.pdf

Abstract: An attempt has been made to characterize and categorize some selected vascular species in the ~ ~- ~ l e s u n d area, Svalbard, in relation to soil moisture conditions. A total of sixty releves were established to describe the floristic structures of plant communities. At each releve site, one soil core sample in a 100 ml metal container was collected to determine soil physical properties. Samples were oven-dried for 48 hours at 105OC. Moisture content was measured and soil moisture index was calculated for each releve. Based on the index, sixty releves were divided into five soil moisture classes. Throughout the sixty releves, twenty-five species of vascular plants were recognized. Of them, eleven species were selected for this study. They were Salk polaris, Oxyria digyna, Polygonum viviparum, Cerastium arcticum, C. regelii, Saxifraga caespitosa, S. cernua, S. nivalis, S. oppositifolia, Dryas octopetala, and Cassiope tetragona. These were the species that occurred in more than eleven releves out of the sixty. Their frequencies against the soil moisture classes were counted. Ecological distribu-tion curves were constructed for the species. From the distribution pattern, especially the amplitude and the mode position on the moisture classes, the species were classified into six categories as follows, Le., euryhygrotopic xerophyte, euryhygrotopic mesophyte, euryhygrotopic hygrophyte, stenohygrotopic xero-phyte, stenohygrotopic mesophyte, and stenohygrotopic hygrophyte. key words: arctic plants, ecological characteristics, soil moisture, Svalbard, vascu-lar plants