Ann Dennis
Constance I. Millar
Kathren E. Murrell
CalFlora, 937 San Pablo Ave, Albany, CA 94706, 510-528-5426
USDA Forest Service, PSW Research Station, Box 245, Berkeley, CA 94701
University of California, Davis, CA
A New GLORIA Target Region in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA; Alpine Plant
Monitoring for Global Climate Change
The Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA) is an
international research project with the goal to assess climate change impacts on
vegetation in alpine environments worldwide. Standardized protocols direct selection of
each node in the network, called a target region, which consists of a set of four
geographically proximal mountain summits at elevations extending from treeline to the
nival zone. For each summit, GLORIA specifies a rigorous mapping and sampling
design for data collection, with re-measurement intervals of five years. Whereas target
regions have been installed in six continents, prior to 2004 none was completed in North
America. In cooperation with the Consortium for Integrated Climate Research in
Western Mountains (CIRMOUNT), three target regions were completed by September
2004, one in the Sierra Nevada, California, one in the White Mountains, California, and
one in Glacier National Park, Montana. The SIERRA NEVADA (GLORIA code: SN)
target region lies along the Sierra Nevada crest in the Yosemite National Park/Mono
Lake region. The four summits well represent the GLORIA design standards, being little
visited by climbers, outside domestic grazing allotments, relatively rounded in shape,
situated within one climate region, related substrate types (metamorphic), and extending
from treeline to the highest elevation zones in the area. The four summits include the
subordinate peak of Mt Dunderberg (3744m), two lesser peaks of Mt Dunderberg (3570m
and 3322m) and a summit along the Yosemite National Park boundary region south of Mt
Conness (3425m). Preliminary data indicate that numbers of vascular plant species, from
lowest to highest summit, were 40, 36, 12, 22 (total for SN, 67). Only 1 species (Elymus
elymoides ssp. californicus) occurred on all four summits; 8 species occurred on three
summits; no exotic species was detected. The most distant summit, also most distinct in
substrate, had the largest number of unique species. The genus Carex (Cyperaceae) had
the most species represented (five). Only one tree species (Pinus albicaulis) occurred
within the summit areas. Data analysis of the baseline measurements has just begun; the
standardized GLORIA protocols will enable direct comparisons among summits within
the target region, across target regions in California, among the three target regions in
North America, and with established GLORIA regions in other continents.