The GLORIA
Multi-Summit
network
a basic approach for the longterm observation of climate
change-induced impacts on
alpine biodiversity
Institute of Ecology and Conservation Biology
Department of Conservation Biology, Vegetation and Landscape Ecology
University of Vienna
Mountain Climate
Sciences Symposium
Lake Tahoe,
May 25-27 2004
GLORIA - the Global Observation Research Initiative
in Alpine Environments
Ecology lacks networks of standardized long-term
observation
Few exceptions: e.g. old records of alpine summit
plant assemblages. Revisitation by the Vienna alpine
ecology team (Grabherr, Gottfried, Pauli) provided evidence
that the 19th century warming increased species
richness.
As reaction to the tremendous response of the
scientific community and the media, the team created the idea
to apply this summit approach world-wide.
This basic GLORIA approach was than tested an applied by support
of the European Union at 18 “target regions” across Europe.
More than 60 permanent plots along a standardised
methodology have been established in Europe.
The purpose of GLORIA
is to establish and to maintain a world-wide
observation network to assess the risks of
biodiversity losses and the vulnerability of
fragile alpine terrestrial ecosystems under
accelerating climate change pressures
The Multi-Summit approach
Sub -nival
Upper alpi ne
Lower alpi ne
The basic multi-site
scheme of GLORIA
Tre eline ecotone
Comparability, simplicity, and low costs were the
main considerations in designing this approach
for an effective global network with a large
number of sites.
Comparable on the global scale
The alpine life zone is globally distributed
Standardised design and recording method for summit sites
LONGITUDE
ALTITUDE
LATITUDE
(within each
mountain
region)
Global arrangement
- continental & zonal approach
Global arrangement
-
circulation approach
The Target region
Example: Sierra Nevada, Spain
3150 m
3327 m
5 km
Cerro de los Machos
Pico del Tosal Cartujo
3
4
2
1
2778 m
Pulpitito
2968 m
Cúpula
The Summit observation site
Sub -nival
Upper alpi ne
Lower alpi ne
Tre eline ecotone
T-logger
1x1m permanent quadrat
N
Summit area section
W
Highest summit point
1m
2m
3m
4m
S
E
5m
6m
7m
8m
9m
10 m
10m
The permanent plots
N
W
8 summit area
sections
Highest summit point
1m
2m
3m
4m
S
E
5m
6m
7m
8m
9m
10 m
10m
species migration
16 quadrats of 1 m²
Quadrat size: 1 m
change in
species composition
and vegetation
patterns
4 temperature
loggers
change of temperature
and snow regimes
Simplicity
Focus on easily recordable key indicators
biotic: vascular plants (cryptogams optional)
species richness
cover
frequency
vegetation
top cover of vascular plants, bryophytes,
lichens
Simplicity
Focus on easily recordable key indicators
Availability of experts
species level
Vascular
plants
Lichens
Bryophytes
Invertebrates
(arthropods,
nematodes)
Recording time
Simplicity
Focus on easily recordable key indicators
biotic: vascular plants (cryptogams optional)
species richness
cover
frequency
vegetation
top cover of vascular plants, bryophytes,
lichens
abiotic: soil temperature and derived indicators
such as duration of snow cover
Low costs for long-term observation
• cheap equipment for plot establishing and
recording
• rapid repositioning (photo documentation of
plots)
• low maintenance costs
• no need for high recording frequency
(5 to 10 years intervals)
Some recommendations
• Avoid bias in selection of sites: land use impact,
summit shape...
• Minimise physical impact to the site: trampling by
investigators
• Recording: all species, careful cover estimation
and frequency counts
• Exact repositioning of plots (careful photo
documentation is required)
The GLORIA field manual - www.gloria.ac.at