Abstract
An experiment is being carried out on the glacier foreland of the Rotmoosferner (Oetztal Alps, Tyrol, Austria) to study the effect of enhanced temperatures on the vegetation. The main aim of study is to analyse the growth and biomass production of an early and a late-successional species under the present natural conditions and under experimentally-altered microclimatic conditions. In 1996, 10 open top chambers (OTC’s) and 10 control plots were established on the moraine of the 1971 glacier stage at 2400 m above sea level. 5 open top chambers and 5 control plots were planted with seedlings of Trifolium pallescens (= an early successional species). Another 5 open top chambers and 5 control plots were planted with ramet groups of Carex curvula (= a late-successional species). Leaf and ramet growth have been monitored in each subsequent growing season. Preliminary results show that Trifolium pallescens develops significantly more leaves under enhanced temperature conditions. The Carex curvula ramet groups decreased in size in the OTC’s as well as in the controls. The final results of the five-year study are expected in August 2000.
Key words
- global change
- growth
- leaf number
- ramet groups
- temperature enhancement
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Erschbamer, B. (2001). Climate Change Experiments on a Glacier Foreland in the Central Alps. In: Visconti, G., Beniston, M., Iannorelli, E.D., Barba, D. (eds) Global Change and Protected Areas. Advances in Global Change Research, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-48051-4_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-48051-4_5
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