Researchers brave the elements to survey Cairngorms' mountain-top plants
Our Cairngorms site staff have just completed their 7-yearly mountain summit vegetation surveys, undertaken as part of the Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA).
The research requires small teams to camp high in the Allt a’Mharcaidh catchment and re-survey vegetation plots previously recorded in 2001 and 2008. The aim is to detect any changes in species assemblage and cover in mountains across the globe, and to determine likely drivers of any change.
Scotland's weather this summer made working for extended periods at high altitude exceptionally difficult, and often tested the endurance of the team, but luckily, as our photo shows, for the last two days the wind dropped and the sun and stars appeared, making the work much more enjoyable.
Further information
- More information about GLORIA can be found at http://www.gloria.ac.at/
- Results of the previous GLORIA survey were published in two papers:
- Gottfried, M., et al. (2012). Continent-wide response of mountain vegetation to climate change.Nature Climate Change, 2, 111-115. doi:10.1038/nclimate1329
- Pauli, H., et al. (2012). Recent Plant Diversity Changes on Europe’s Mountain Summits. Science 336 (6079), 353-355. doi:10.1126/science.1219033
- More about ECN Cairngorms
 Read why this research matters |
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- ECN Cairngorms site involved in European research suggesting climate change is altering mountain vegetation at the large scale
- ECN Cairngorms involved in second paper on European mountain vegetation responses to climate change
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Continent-wide response of mountain vegetation to climate change
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