Some Ecological Notes on the Alpine Tundra in the Area of the Juneau Ice Field

• Main Author: Ward, Richard T.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: UNI ScholarWorks 1957
• Subjects: Tundra
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol64/iss1/12; https://scholarworks.uni.edu/context/pias/article/2785/viewcontent/12_Some_Ecological_Notes_on_the_Alpine.pdf

During the summer of 1949 an introductory study of the vegetation of nunataks and peripheral tundra areas of the Juneau Ice Field was made. The field work constituted a part of the Juneau Ice Field Research Project, which in addition to ecology includes investigations in the fields of geology, glaciology, meteorology, seismology, and cartography. Except for a small plant collection made by a reconnaissance party in the previous summer, the vegetation of this ice field was virtually unknown, as were in fact the other scientific aspects. The expedition of 1949 was the first group to spend an entire summer on the ice field, and the first to establish stations on any substantial number of nunataks. The aim of this particular study was to collect and identify the major plant species on several nunataks and on related areas, and to analyze the plant life from an ecological standpoint.