Description of plant communities on Half Moon Island, Antarctica

During February–March of the austral summers of 2013/14 and 2014/2015, fieldwork was performed on Half Moon Island, South Shetland Archipelago, Antarctica, to evaluate the distribution and abundance of mosses and lichens, as well as to describe and map the plant communities there. The quadrat (20 ×...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polar Research
Main Authors: Daniela Schmitz, Jair Putzke, Margéli Pereira de Albuquerque, Adriano Luis Schünemann, Frederico Costa Beber Vieira, Filipe de Carvalho Victoria, Antônio Batista Pereira
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Norwegian Polar Institute 2018
Subjects:
Phytosociology
Antarctic plant distribution
bryophytes
lichens
plant community mapping
Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Oceanography
GC1-1581
Antarctic
Austral
Half Moon Island
Antarc*
Antarctica
Polar Research
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1080/17518369.2018.1523663
https://doaj.org/article/97e2eef59bcb405db199106d6cf9576f
Description
Summary:During February–March of the austral summers of 2013/14 and 2014/2015, fieldwork was performed on Half Moon Island, South Shetland Archipelago, Antarctica, to evaluate the distribution and abundance of mosses and lichens, as well as to describe and map the plant communities there. The quadrat (20 × 20 cm) sampling method was employed in a phytosociological study that aimed to describe these communities. The area was mapped using an Astech Promark II® DGPS, yielding sub-metric precision after post-processing with software. The number of species totalled 38 bryophytes, 59 lichens, only one flowering plant (Deschampsia antarctica Desv.), and two macroscopic terrestrial algae. Five types of plant communities were identified on the island, as follows: (1) fruticose lichen and moss cushion, (2) moss carpet, (3) muscicolous lichen, (4) crustose lichen and (5) moss turf.

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