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FLORISTIC PATTERNS ON AVALANCHE PATHS IN THE NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAINS, USA

George P. Malanson, David R. Butler

Open publisher page 32 citations

Abstract

Avalanche paths in the northern Rocky Mountains have transverse zones of plant physiognomic types representing major exogenous environmental gradients related to topography. Species composition was analyzed among these transverse zones. Forty plots on two paths in Montana, USA, were ordinated by detrended correspondence analysis, giving ordination axes for both plots and species. The results of the ordination of the plots did not correspond to their differentation in physiognomic zones. Dominant species of similar physiognomy were widely separated in the ordination of species. Endogenous spatial processes are suggested to explain the more complex floristic pattern. (Keywords: avalanche, floristic patterns, Rocky Mountains, vegetation)

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What this paper is about

Avalanche paths in the northern Rocky Mountains have transverse zones of plant physiognomic types representing major exogenous environmental gradients related to topography. Species composition was analyzed among these transverse zones. Forty plots on two paths in Montana, USA, were ordinated by detrended correspondence analysis, giving ordination axes for both plots and species. The results of the ordination of the plots did not correspond to their differentation in physiognomic zones. Dominant species of similar physiognomy were widely separated in the ordination of species. Endogenous spatial processes are suggested to explain the more complex floristic pattern. (Keywords: avalanche, floristic patterns, Rocky Mountains, vegetation)

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Available abstract

Avalanche paths in the northern Rocky Mountains have transverse zones of plant physiognomic types representing major exogenous environmental gradients related to topography. Species composition was analyzed among these transverse zones. Forty plots on two paths in Montana, USA, were ordinated by detrended correspondence analysis, giving ordination axes for both plots and species. The results of the ordination of the plots did not correspond to their differentation in physiognomic zones. Dominant species of similar physiognomy were widely separated in the ordination of species. Endogenous spatial processes are suggested to explain the more complex floristic pattern. (Keywords: avalanche, floristic patterns, Rocky Mountains, vegetation)

Key concepts: Floristics, Ordination, Detrended correspondence analysis, Physiognomy, Vegetation (pathology), Geography, Ecology, Geology

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