The GLORIA programme
and site-based network
A brief introduction
Consortium for Integrated Mountain
GLORIA-coordination, Vienna, Austria
Harald Pauli, Klaus Steinbauer, Andrea Lamprecht, Research in Western Mountains, California
Sophie Nießner, Armin Oppelt, Manuela Winkler Constance I. Millar
Reno, Nevada
July 16-19 2014
Purpose of GLORIA
To trace the impacts of
anthropogenic climate change on
natural or semi-natural alpine
areas and their vegetation
patterns and biological diversity
Purpose of GLORIA
Why?
High mountains
where biota are determined by cold conditions
 occur in all ecozones
….constitute a uniquely
comparable biome type
 low pressure from land use
Multi-Summit Approach
By using a standardised
permanent plot design, arranged
along the fundamental climatic
gradients: latitude, longitude,
altitude
How?
Summit sites represent
Multi-Summit Approach
the vertical gradient
and allow for a
 comparable
 simple
 cost-efficient
approach
GLORIA Target Region
How?
GLORIA Monitoring summit
Multi-Summit Approach
Vascular
plant
species
composition
&
surface
types
10 m
Soil
temperature
logger
(1h-interval)
Highest summit point
1m
2m
3m
4m
5m
6m
7m
8m
9m
10m
How?
The relevance of vascular plants
Multi-Summit Approach
 ”macro“ primary producers
 very wide ecological amplitude
 species with thermal/altitudinal
niches
 adult individuals don’t move
 long-lived (integrate climate trends)
 expert availability
Multi-Summit Approach
How?
GLORIA Target Regions
41
25
21
24
3
3
Additional activities (EXAPs)
Ethnobotany
Soil variability
around GLORIA summits
© Ben Staver
Vacuum method
for arthropods
© Lance Iversen, SFC
Pitfall traps for arthropods
Downslope
plant survey
Plant responses to
experimental warming
Herpetological
monitoring
Socio-economy
and landuse
The role of GLORIA
 Scientists: ecology of species, risk
assessment, input for predictive modelling
 Protected area managers: support of
conservation management strategies
through climate/biodiversity indicators
 Policy makers; forward-looking policy
and good governance will rely on
detection systems
 Public interested in anthropogenic
impacts on the cryophilic biosphere
GLORIA
change
Climate/plant
community
indicator
GLORIA –– climate
climate
change indicators
indicators
Thermophilization Indicator
more coldadapted species
more warmdemanding species
Gottfried et al. 2012, Nature Climate Change 2.
Climate/plant diversity indicator
Species richness indicator
BOREAL
TEMPERATE
MEDITERRANEAN
Change in vascular plant species numbers; triangles solid: increase, open: decrease,
circles: no change, horizontal lines: change on the region-level.
Pauli, et al. 2012, Science 336.
www.gloria.ac.at