Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand abstracts
Two GLORIA long-term alpine monitoring sites established in
New Zealand as part of a global network
Alan F. Mark1, Katharine J. M.
Dickinson1, Tanja Maegli1,
and Stephan R. P. Halloy2
1Botany Department, University of
Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand.
2Crop & Food Research, Private Bag
50034, Mosgiel, New Zealand.
Present address: Centro de Postgrado en
Ecologia y Conservación, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, and
WWF, La Paz, Bolivia.
Abstract Recent
information on climatic warming is reviewed in both the global and New
Zealand contexts, with emphasis on the relatively sensitive plants of
the alpine zone. Also discussed is the initiation in 2001 of the Global
Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA) project
to establish a long-term vegetation/environment monitoring network in
Europe, using standardised criteria and methods, and which is now being
extended to the global level. Two sites ("target
regions") have been selected and established on
conservation land in New Zealand, using the standardised procedure. One
target region with a single summit is on Mt Burns in the perhumid Fiord
Ecological Region, the other with two summits is on the upper slopes of
the Pisa Range, the highest in the subcontinental Central Otago
Ecological Region. These are briefly characterised in terms of their
floras and plant cover, as well as their current temperature (air and
soil) environments, based on 2-year records.
Keywords global warming;
GLORIA monitoring programme; New Zealand contribution; Central Otago; Pisa
Range; Fiordland; Mt Burns; alpine flora; air temperatures;
soil temperatures
R06003; Received 18 January 2006; accepted 1 August 2006;
Online publication date 22 August 2006
Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand
Volume 36, Number 3, September, 2006, pp 111–128
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