1. UC White Mountain Research Station brings GLORIA to the White Mountains Upper summit area (within 5 vertical m of summit point) Lower summit area (between 5 and 10 vertical meters from summit point) This picture shows the SEupper and SElower sections. In collaboration with the USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station and the California Native Plant Society, the University of California White Mountain Research Station established GLORIA monitoring sites on four summits in the White Mountains of Eastern California in August 2004. The GLORIA (Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments: www.gloria.ac.at) project is a worldwide initiative to monitor climate effects on alpine peaks. The lower three GLORIA summits in the White Mountains consist of granitic rock, and range from 3240 m to 3975 m in elevation; the upper summit is metavolcanic rock on the shoulder of White Mountain Peak at 4285 m. For each summit we followed the GLORIA sampling design and recorded baseline data on plant species composition, cover, and frequency. Permanent monitoring plots were set up, and dataloggers installed to measure soil temperature. Measurements are to be repeated every five years in perpetuity. We also hope to establish a GLORIA “Master Site” in the White Mountains, in which the standard GLORIA protocol would be augmented with additional transects and sampling protocols, and with expanded scope to include animal taxa. For example, we hope to use modified protocols on a parallel summit transect on the Reed Dolomite (carbonate) substrate common in the White Mountains. We may also remeasure the GLORIA summits using alternative sampling protocols to facilitate comparison with other monitoring efforts. GLORIA Alpine Monitoring in the White Mountains, Eastern California Species occurrences at the four GLORIA sites. The GLORIA summit ID codes and numbers in the table below locate the summits on the maps and photos to the right. Detailed analyses of occurrences with regard to aspect and elevation and comparisons with other summit areas are in progress. A 1 B 2 3 C 4 View to the NW of the GLORIA summits region in the White Mountains. The distance from site 4 to site 1 is approximately 18 km. Researchers from the PSW Research Station and California Native Plant Society volunteers eat lunch at GLORIA site 2. GLORIA Site 1 is seen in background. View to Southeast from GLORIA site 1. GLORIA site 3 is visible in the middleground. 3 WMRS Barcroft Station (B) in winter WMRS Summit lab (A) The GLORIA protocol In each GLORIA region three or more summits are selected along an elevation gradient. They must have similar substrates and share as many other physiographic attributes as possible. The maps and photos to the right show the four GLORIA summit sites in the White Mountains. On each summit, plots are centered around a permanently marked “highest summit point.” Areas within 5 and 10 vertical m below summit point are marked as Upper and Lower summit areas, respectively. Upper and Lower summit areas are each divided into 4 aspect sections giving a grand total of 8 sections. Within each section, plant species are identified and percent cover estimated. For fine-scale sampling, four 3x3 m quadrat clusters are created, one in each cardinal direction. The four corner quadrats are sampled within each cluster using a decimeter grid. A temperature datalogger is buried 10 cm deep in each quadrat cluser to record hourly soil temperature. All data are submitted via the GLORIA website to a central database. Quadrat cluster 1 White Mountain Research Station, Bishop, CA 2 US Geological Survey, Bishop, CA 3 CalFlora, 937 San Pablo Ave, Albany, CA 94706, 510-528-5426 4 USDA Forest Service, PSW Research Station, Box 245, Berkeley, CA 94701 5 University of California, Davis, CA Frank L. Powell 1 John T. Smiley 1 Daniel W. Pritchett 1 Angela Jayko 2 Ann Dennis 3 Constance I. Millar 4 Kathren E. Murrell 5 Rationale for GLORIA Abundant data suggest the biosphere is undergoing rapid climate warming and change which may continue indefinitely. Ecosystems of the alpine life zone are thought to be particularly sensitive to warming because they are adapted to low temperature conditions. The alpine life zone is the only terrestrial biogeographic unit with a global distribution, and in many countries high mountain ecosystems have experienced less anthropogenic disturbance than those at lower elevations. For these reasons, the alpine zone presents a unique opportunity for monitoring and analyzing impacts of climate change on a global scale. There are currently 29 established GLORIA summit monitoring regions on 5 continents, with many more planned. WMRS Crooked Creek Station (C) 1 1 B 2 3 C 4 A D LEGEND 1: WMT GLORIA site (4285 m) 2: BAR GLORIA Site (3975 m) 3: RNA GLORIA site (3722 m) 4: SHF GLORIA site (3258 m) A: WMRS Summit Lab (4342 m) B: WMRS Barcroft Station (3801 m) C: WMRS Crooked Creek Station (3094 m) D: WMRS Owens Valley Lab (1252 m)

2. Affiliations 1 White Mountain Research Station, Bishop, CA 2 CalFlora, 937 San Pablo Ave, Albany, CA 94706 3 USDA Forest Service, PSW Research Station, Box 245, Berkeley, CA 94701 4 US Geological Survey, Bishop, CA Daniel W. Pritchett 1, Ann Dennis 2, Constance I. Millar 3, John T. Smiley 1, Frank L. Powell 1, Angela Jayko 4 UC White Mountain Research Station expands GLORIA monitoring in the White Mountains 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 A B C ABSTRACT In collaboration with the USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station and the California Native Plant Society, the University of California White Mountain Research Station established new GLORIA monitoring sites on three summits in the White Mountains of Eastern California in summer 2005. The GLORIA protocol has now been implemented on seven summits in the White Mountains in the past two summers. The GLORIA (Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments: www.gloria.ac.at/) project is a worldwide initiative for long-term monitoring of climate effects on alpine peaks. This year the protocol was used on summits composed primarily of carbonate (limestone and dolomite) rocks, which ranged from 3478 m to 3735 m in elevation. These summits contrast with those sampled last year which were composed of granitic and metavolcanic rock. For each summit we followed the GLORIA sampling design and recorded plant species composition, cover, and frequency. We installed dataloggers to measure soil temperature, and researchers from the University of California Merced took soil samples for analysis of soil composition and micro-biota. We had multiple botanists make cover estimates of the same Summit Area Section to assess repeatability of such estimates and we expanded the protocol to include fixed area (10 m x 10 m) plots within the standard GLORIA Summit Area Sections. Cover and species composition were measured in the fixed area plots as well as in the full Summit Area Sections. This addition to the protocol greatly facilitated calibration of ocular cover estimates for the irregularly-shaped sometimes-very-large Summit Area Sections and will also facilitate comparisons of data among different sites if it is implemented elsewhere. A butterfly count was conducted for the first time in conjunction with sampling. Next year we hope to expand monitoring to gather data on small mammals and focus on sampling at (current) upper elevation limits of selected taxa. FIXED AREA PLOTS At left is a diagram of the layout of the North Summit Area Sections (5 m and 10 m) according to the standard GLORIA sampling protocol. At right is a diagram of the layout of the modified GLORIA sampling protocol used this summer in the White Mountains. The addition of a fixed area (10 m x 10 m) plot within each Summit Area Section facilitates comparisons between sites, and also helps field workers calibrate cover estimates for irregularly shaped Summit Area Sections. D RESULTS TO DATE Although the primary objective of GLORIA monitoring is to document long term ecosystem change, the fine-scale data gathered allow description of current patterns of species distribution on the summits being monitored. As shown in the table to the right, we found 46 species on the three new GLORIA summits sampled in 2005. Of these 46 species, 19 had not been documented on the four GLORIA summits sampled in 2004. The most abundant species on the 2005 summits are indicated in the table by shading. All but three of these species were also abundant on the 2004 summits. We saw some apparent species replacements in the Fabaceae (Legume family). Astragalus kentrophyta, important on all three 2005 summits, replaced Astragalus platytropis which was important on the 2004 summits. In the same way Oxytropis parryi replaced Trifolium andersonii A striking feature of vegetation on the 2005 summits is the absence of a sub-shrub layer on carbonate substrates. While sub-shrubs form an important component of vegetation on the 2004 summits (which were all granitic or meta-volcanic), sub-shrubs were restricted to inclusions of non-carbonate rocks on the 2005 summits. NE N NW 1m 2m 3m4m 5m 6m 7m 8m 9m 10m NE N NW 1m 2m 3m4m 5m 6m 7m 8m 9m 10m IMPLEMENTING GLORIA Above, working on summit SME. View is from the East 5 m Summit Area Section (SAS) looking downslope into the East 10 m SAS. Each of the 8 SAS’s are defined by aspect (N, S, E, W) and elevation (0 – 5 m downslope from the summit, and 5-10 m downslope from summit. The yellow paint on the rocks will assist in re- establishment of the sampling grid when the summit is monitored again in 2010. Below, lunch break on summit SME. 2004 GLORIA sites 1: WMT (4285 m) 2: BAR (3975 m) 3: RNA (3722 m) 4: SHF (3258 m) WMRS Facilities A: Summit Lab (4342 m) B: Barcroft Station (3801 m) C: Crooked Creek Station (3094 m) D: Owens Valley Lab (1252 m) 2005 GLORIA sites 5: SME (3734 m) 6: CWS (3612 m) 7: PGS (3490 m)