Vegetation pattern of mountains in West Greenland – a baseline for long-term surveillance of global warming impacts.

Background:Steep environmental gradients, coupled with predicted high temperature rises in the Arctic make arctic mountain vegetation highly suitable for surveillance of changes related to global warming. However, guidelines and baselines for such a purpose are widely lacking since arctic mountain vegetation has been little explored. Aims:We explore options for long-term surveillance on the basis of a detailed analysis of extant plant community patterns and their underlying environmental conditions in the mountainous inland of West Greenland. Methods:Distribution, abundance and site conditions of vegetation types were analysed, using 664 vegetation samples and detailed vegetation maps in four altitudinal belts. Results:Most plant communities had a restricted elevation distribution and were confined to special habitats predominantly defined by mesotopography and soil moisture. Conclusions:Based on the strong linkage to habitat conditions, horizontal and vertical changes of species distribution and vegetation pattern are excellent indicators for inferring underlying environmental changes on three different scales. The recommendations given concerning climate sensitive species and plant communities, ecotones for setting up observation sites as well as stratification of analysis by habitats can be the basis for establishing long-term surveillance programmes on arctic mountain vegetation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]