Victorian Alpine Plot Network (Alpine Summit Plots): Vegetation Life-form Data, South-East Highlands, Australia, 2017

Abstract: This Victorian Alpine Plot Network Vegetation Life Form Data Package comprises line intercept data for alpine mountain summits in the Australian Alps. For each mountain summit, four varying length permanent transects have been established. These transects extend downslope, along each cardinal and inter-cardinal directions, to a point situated 5 altitudinal metres below the summit. Along each transect, plant and substrate attributes recorded include dominant life form classes, the ‘presence’ of dominant plant species and substrate ‘type’ when vegetation is absent. This study, which commenced in 2001, forms part of the collection of data packages by the Victorian Alpine Plot Network. A synopsis of related data packages which have been collected as part of the Victorian Alpine Plot Network’s full program is provided at https//doi.org/10.25911/5c11c3d283b0e. Sampling method: A global climate change and mountain environments monitoring network - The Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA; http://www.gloria.ac.at) - was established in 2001 to detect long-term vegetation change on alpine mountain summits. Observations focus on changes in species richness with respect to local temperatures and altitude. Five mountain summit survey sites were established in the Kosciuszko National Park in 2004 and several in the Victorian Alpine National Park in 2006. There are currently 12 such summits, encompassing the geographic distribution of high alpine summits in the Australian Alps, with each to be surveyed at 5-year intervals. Study extent: No limitations or missing units in temporal coverage have been referred to in the Conceptual Design. Project funding: Australian Geographic and Holsworth Fund. Between 2012 and 2018 this project was part of, and funded through the Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN) a facility within the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) and supported by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy.
Type
collection
Title
Victorian Alpine Plot Network (Alpine Summit Plots): Vegetation Life-form Data, South-East Highlands, Australia, 2017
Alternate Title
Victorian Alpine Plot Network: Vegetation – Life Form Cover Summit Plots, 2017
Collection Type
Dataset
Access Privileges
Long Term Ecological Research Network
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
10.25911/5c33fc548e79c
Metadata Language
English
Data Language
English
Brief Description
This Victorian Alpine Plot Network Vegetation Life Form Data Package comprises line intercept data for alpine mountain summits in the Australian Alps collected in 2017. A synopsis of related data packages which have been collected as part of the Victorian Alpine Plot Network’s full program is provided at https//doi.org/10.25911/5c11c3d283b0e.
Full Description
Abstract: This Victorian Alpine Plot Network Vegetation Life Form Data Package comprises line intercept data for alpine mountain summits in the Australian Alps. For each mountain summit, four varying length permanent transects have been established. These transects extend downslope, along each cardinal and inter-cardinal directions, to a point situated 5 altitudinal metres below the summit. Along each transect, plant and substrate attributes recorded include dominant life form classes, the ‘presence’ of dominant plant species and substrate ‘type’ when vegetation is absent. This study, which commenced in 2001, forms part of the collection of data packages by the Victorian Alpine Plot Network. A synopsis of related data packages which have been collected as part of the Victorian Alpine Plot Network’s full program is provided at https//doi.org/10.25911/5c11c3d283b0e. Sampling method: A global climate change and mountain environments monitoring network - The Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA; http://www.gloria.ac.at) - was established in 2001 to detect long-term vegetation change on alpine mountain summits. Observations focus on changes in species richness with respect to local temperatures and altitude. Five mountain summit survey sites were established in the Kosciuszko National Park in 2004 and several in the Victorian Alpine National Park in 2006. There are currently 12 such summits, encompassing the geographic distribution of high alpine summits in the Australian Alps, with each to be surveyed at 5-year intervals. Study extent: No limitations or missing units in temporal coverage have been referred to in the Conceptual Design. Project funding: Australian Geographic and Holsworth Fund. Between 2012 and 2018 this project was part of, and funded through the Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN) a facility within the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) and supported by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy.
Methods
Plot Setup
1
None specified
For each mountain summit, four variable length permanent transects have been established that run from the summit, downslope, to a contour 5 m in elevation below the highest point (the ‘-5 m contour’). Transects run from the summit to the north, south, west and east.
Data Collection
2
None specified
Along each transect, line intercepts (to the nearest centimetre) are recorded for each of the dominant classes (grasses, herbs, shrubs), noting dominant species, as well as ground cover condition when vegetation is absent (bare ground, rock). These data are converted to percentage cover per transect to detect structural changes.
File Descriptions
vasp_vegetation_life-form_cover_2017_p784t1098.csv
cover
definitionDominant vegetation class and substrate type. NA is used for data that has not been collected, as the transects vary in length and measurements are not taken at every distance.
nominal text definitionCharacter
date
date time formatYYYY-MM-DD
definitionDate of record
descriptionVictorian Alpine Plot Network Alpine/ Sub-alpine Vegetation Life-form Data.
direction
definitionCardinal and sub-cardinal points
ordinal text definitionCharacter
metres
definitionDistance along transect
ratio number typereal
ratio standard unitmeter
number of records28001
site
definitionSite characteristic: Alpine Summit transect location
nominal text definitionText
Contact Email
belln@unimelb.edu.au; ary@unimelb.edu.au
Contact Address
Bio21 Institute Departments of Genetics and Zoology University of Melbourne Melbourne, Vic., 3010 Australia
Contact Phone Number
+61 3 8344 2282
Principal Investigator
Ary Hoffman
Supervisors
Ary Hoffman
Collaborators
Henrick Wahren; Susanna Venn; John Morgan
Fields of Research
0602 - Ecology
Keywords
GCMD:Biological Classification > Plants; GCMD:Biosphere > Biosphere > Terrestrial Ecosystems > Alpine/Tundra; LTERN Monitoring Theme:Vegetation structure; LTERN Monitoring Theme:Plant species composition; LTERN Monitoring Theme:Plant species abundance; LTERN Monitoring Theme:Individual plants; keyword:Species richness; keyword:Alpine National Park; keyword:Alpine summits; keyword:Dominant classes; keyword:Compositional changes; Victorian Alpine; Summit Plots; Vegetation – Life Form Cover
Type of Research Activity
Strategic basic research
Date Coverage
2017
Geospatial Location
Alpine Summit, Australian Alps
text
northlimit = -36.7325; southlimit = -37.13255; westlimit = 146.4542; eastLimit = 147.30667
iso19139dcmiBox
Date of data creation
2017-12-06
Year of data publication
2017
Creator(s) for Citation
Hoffman
Ary
Publisher for Citation
Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN), ANU Data Commons, The Australian National University
Other Related Identifiers
MorphoId:ltern.366; PackageId:784
Access Rights Type
Open
Rights held in and over the data
Creative Commons Licence (CC BY- Attribution) is assigned to this data. Details of the licence can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Licence Type
CC-BY - Attribution (Version 4)
Licence
LTERN Deed: 7 Date of execution: 2016-10-10
Retention Period
Indefinitely
Data Management Plan
No

Download data files

Number of files: 1

Size: 1.24 MB

Identifier: anudc:5876

Status: Published
Published to:
  • Australian National University
  • Australian National Data Service
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