Group Co-ordinator Professor Kath Dickinson
Research Collaborators: Dr Janice Lord, Emeritus Professor Alan Mark, Dr Allison Knight (Botany Department), Dr Stephan Halloy (Crop and Food Research),
Research Fellows: Pascale Michel
 

Current projects:

1)Predicting the impacts of experimental manipulation of snow cover using the frost tolerance and reproductive schedules of alpine plants (Principal Investigators: Dr Dickinson, Dr Lord; Associates: Prof. Bannister (deceased), Dr Knight, Prof. Mark, T. Maegli) 
Snow insulates and protects alpine plants from the harshest conditions of winter. Reduction of winter snow cover in New Zealand will potentially greatly increase the severity of temperatures experienced by alpine plants. This overlooked aspect of global climate change in the alpine zone is likely to be a critical factor affecting plant survival and therefore may be the most important threat facing the conservation of alpine species and associated ecosystems. This project represents the first attempt internationally, that we are aware of, to experimentally reduce winter snow cover in a range of alpine areas. We are addressing the following questions:
1) Can morphological and physiological attributes of alpine vascular plant species  predict how they will respond to reduced snow cover?
2) Are species which overwinter under snow, less physiologically tolerant than species that normally overwinter in relatively snow-free areas at a similar altitude?
3) How does the reduction of snow cover affect the overwinter survival of flower buds, and the timing of spring flowering?
Four large snow traps have been established on the "Snowfarm", Pisa Range, Otago, with the aim of reducing snow cover in areas of natural alpine vegetation. A reciprocal transplant experiment involving large turfs of alpine vegetation, and lichen-encrusted rocks (Dr Knight) has been established in two snowbank complexes on the Rock and Pillar Range, Otago, and variations in plant phenology are being studied. In addition to these new manipulations, vegetation response to increased snow cover is being measured around a snowfence established in 1959 on the Old Man Range, Central Otago. This is possibly the oldest continuously monitored snow fence in the world.  At all three sites, climate data has been collected throughout 2003, and changes to plant community structure and composition will be investigated annually. In addition, data on seasonal changes in frost tolerances and how this interacts with natural and induced levels of winter exposure, are being measured for selected Asteraceae on the Rock and Pillar Range (Professor Bannister and Tania Maegli).

2) Measuring the responses of alpine plants to changes in UV-B exposure (Principal Investigator: Dr Lord; Associates: Dr Knight, Dr Dickinson) 
Alpine plants live in naturally high UV environments so are potentially valuable in the study of plant tolerances to climate-change induced increases in UV radiation. However, despite extensive work on plant responses to UV (especially DNA-damaging UV-B), the response of wild plants, let alone alpine plants, to fluctuations in UV radiation in situ, is poorly studied. Alpine lichens have a number of advantages as subjects for UV experimentation. They provide discrete, often portable sampling units (e.g. rock-encrusting species), and contain many secondary compounds with UV screening properties. Moreover they are a significant component of biodiversity; lichen species richness in south-eastern New Zealand alpine areas can be much greater than that of vascular plants (A. Knight, unpub. data). To date, in situ studies of plant responses to UV radiation have suffered from a lack of non-destructive methods for assessing levels of photoprotective pigments. This is particularly a problem with lichens as individual specimens are usually small and often located in conservation areas, precluding extensive destructive sampling.
This project aims to develop a repeatable non-destructive assay for photoprotectant levels in natural alpine plant populations, and use this to compare the in situ adaptability of vascular plants and lichens to altered  UV exposure. We are particularly interested in UV damage during winter and under conditions of water stress, as a likely climate-change scenario for south-east New Zealand is reduced snow cover, exposing plants to increased light levels and harsher conditions.

3) Research database for the Rock and Pillar Range, Otago. (Principal Investigator: Dr Lord; Associate: K. Spencer)
The Rock and Pillar Range, Central Otago, has been the site of much alpine ecological research over the last 50 years, but as this research has been carried out by different people in different Departments there are surprisingly no long-term datasets from the area. The Alpine Ecology  Research Group is committed to ongoing monitoring of climate and vegetation at two sites, with the aim of examining alpine plant responses to climate change. This project will establish a permanent, accessible database of other sites on the Range for which species or climate data exists, and revisit a subset of those sites. The short-term benefit would be that visitors and collaborators could access this database, for example to establish an invertebrate diversity study in a site where climate is already being monitored. In the medium and long term, sites can be revisited and, if further funding is available, ongoing climate monitoring can be established at key sites. Having long-term data on climate, and species distributions and abundances in an alpine area, will be a valuable asset to alpine ecological research. In future the Rock and Pillar Range could become a focal site for alpine research along the lines of the Colorado University Mountain Research Station, Rocky Mountains, USA, and Finse Alpine Research Station, Norway.

4) Establishing and maintaining GLORIA sites in southern New Zealand (Principal Investigators: Dr Halloy, Prof. Mark)
Two GLORIA sites have been established by Dr Halloy, Professor Mark and other members of AERG. One site was established in Febuary 2003 on the Pisa Range, Central Otago, at c. 1700 m. The other site was established in 2001/2002 on Mt Burns, in Fiordland National Park.  GLORIA (Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments) is a global observation and monitoring network which directly contributes to the Mountain Research Initiative of the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme, and GTOS (Global Terrestrial Observing System) established by FAO, ICSU, UNEP, UNESCO and WMO. GLORIA uses standard, internationally recognised protocols to establish longterm climate and vegetation monitoring programmes in high mountain ecosystems.
 

Selected Recent Publications:
Halloy, S.R.P. and A.F. Mark. (2003) Climate-change effects on alpine plant biodiversity: a New Zealand perspective on quantifying the threat. Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research 35: 248-254.

Mark, A.F. and Dickinson, K.J.M. (2003). Temporal responses over 30 years to removal of grazing from a mid-altitude snow tussock grassland reserve, Lammerlaw Ecological Region, New Zealand. NZ  Journal of Botany 41: 655-668.

Dickinson, K.J.M., Chagué-Goff, C., Mark, A.F. and Cullen, L. (2002). Ecological processes and trophic status of two low-alpine patterned mires, south-central South Island, New Zealand. Austral Ecology 27: 369-384.

Mark, A.F. and Dickinson, K.J.M. (2001). Deschampsia cespitosa subalpine tussockland on the Green Lake landslide, Hunter Mountains, Fiord Ecological Region, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 39: 577-585.

Mark, A.F., Dickinson, K.J.M., Allen, J., Smith, R. and West, C.J. (2001). Vegetation patterns, plant distribution and life forms across the alpine zone in southern Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Austral Ecology 26: 423-440.

Sinclair, B.J., Lord, J.M. and Thompson, C.M. (2001). Microhabitat selection and seasonality of alpine invertebrates. Pedobiologia, 45: 107-120.

Mark, A.F., Dickinson, K.J.M. and Hofstede, R.G.M. (2000). Alpine vegetation, plant distribution, life forms, and environments in a perhumid New Zealand region: Oceanic and tropical high mountain affinities. Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research 32 (3): 240-254.