CAFF Proceeding Series Report Nr. 8 August 2012 The CAFF Flora Group Proceedings of the 7th International Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) Flora Group Workshop: Akureyri, Iceland, January 28-February 3, 2011 Acknowledgements CAFF Designated Agencies: • Directorate for Nature Management, Trondheim, Norway • Environment Canada, Ottawa, Canada • Faroese Museum of Natural History, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands (Kingdom of Denmark) • Finnish Ministry of the Environment, Helsinki, Finland • Icelandic Institute of Natural History, Reykjavik, Iceland • The Ministry of Domestic Affairs, Nature and Environment, Government of Greenland • Russian Federation Ministry of Natural Resources, Moscow, Russia • Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, Stockholm, Sweden • United States Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Anchorage, Alaska CAFF Permanent Participant Organizations: • Aleut International Association (AIA) • Arctic Athabaskan Council (AAC) • Gwich’in Council International (GCI) • Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) – Greenland, Alaska and Canada • Russian Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON) • Saami Council This publication should be cited as: Talbot, S. S., (ed) 2012. Proceedings of the 7th International: Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) Flora Group Workshop, Akureyri, Iceland, January 28 - February 3, 2011. CAFF International Secretariat, CAFF Flora Expert Group (CFG), CAFF Proceedings Series Report Nr. 8. ISBN: 978-9935-431-18-9 Cover photo: Pioneer vegetation in a gull colony on the 48 year old island "Surtsey" south of Iceland. Photo: Sigurdur H Magnusson Back cover photo: Mertensia maritima, or oysterleaf, a circumpolar perennial plant of beaches, spits, and bars. Photo: Courtney Price For more information please contact: CAFF International Secretariat Borgir, Nordurslod 600 Akureyri, Iceland Phone: +354 462-3350 Fax: +354 462-3390 Email: [email protected] Internet: www.caff.is Editing: Stephen Talbot Layout: Courtney Price ___ CAFF Designated Area 3 Preface Vegetation Prototype of the Circumboreal Vegetation Map for Iceland ...........................................................5 Gudmundur Gudjónsson, Eythór Einarsson & Rannveig Thoroddsen Boreal Vegetation map of the Altai-Sayan Area as a Prototype for the Circumboreal Vegetation Map (CBVM) .......................................................................................................................................16 Nicolai Ermakov CBVM Email Suggestions (12 March 2010) from Udo Bohn to Nicolai Ermakov .........................23 Udo Bohn Boreal Vegetation Mapping in Conditions of a Disturbance Regime: a Case from the Southern Boreal Subzone of the Russian Far East ..........................................................................................24 Pavel V. Krestov Boreal Vegetation of the Kamchatka Peninsula and Adjacent Areas and its Geobotanical Mapping ............................................................................................................................................35 Valentina Yu. Neshataeva, Anton Pesterov & Sergei Golubev Bioclimatic Dossier for the ‘Circumboreal Vegetation Mapping Project’ (CBVM) ........................42 Daniel Sánchez-Mata & Salvador Rivas-Martínez Pilot-scale Mapping for Alaskan Portion of the Circumboreal Vegetation Map (CBVM) ............52 M. Torre Jorgenson CBVM activities in Canada for 2010 ................................................................................................61 William. J. Meades & Kenneth. A. Baldwin An Overview of the Role of Remote Sensing in the Production of the Circumboreal Vegetation Map (CBVM) .......................................................................................................................................62 David J. Selkowitz Applying the Proposed Circumboreal Vegetation Map Legend to Western Canada ..................63 Del Meidinger & Will MacKenzie Mapping the Boreal Zone of Northeastern America with the CBVM Legend: Pilot Project in Québec, Canada ................................................................................................................................68 André Robitaille, Jean-Pierre Saucier, Antoine Leboeuf and Elisabeth Dufour Global Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA) GLORIA in the Arctic – Short Introduction ......................................................................................82 Starri Heiðmarsson, Anna Maria Fosaa & Stephen Talbot International Arctic Vegetation Database (IAVD) Progress Report on the Arctic Vegetation Database .....................................................................85 Martha K. Raynolds Flora Red Listing of Arctic Vascular Plants: Current Status and Recommendations .............................87 Mora Aronsson, Fred J.A. Daniëls, Lynn Gillespie, Starri Heiðmarsson, Hörður Kristinsson, Stefanie M. Ickert-Bond, Henry Väre, Kristine Bakke Westergaard Monitoring of Red Listed Species in the Arctic ...............................................................................89 Lynn Gillespie, Mora Aronsson, Stefanie M. Ickert-Bond, Henry Väre, Kristine Bakke Westergaard The Arctic Plant Portal .....................................................................................................................96 Kristine Bakke Westergaard, Mora Aronsson, Lynn Gillespie, Stefanie M. Ickert-Bond, & Henry Väre 4 Preface Members of the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) Circumpolar Flora Group (CFG) met in Akureyri, Iceland during the period 28 January – 31st January 2011 and presented to the CAFF Board at the CAFF Biennial. They came to Akureyri to participate in a series of CFG meetings; these were structured as follows: • 28-29th January– a workshop of the Circumboreal Vegetation Mapping (CBVM) group focusing on the results of mapping prototype boreal vegetation areas • 30th January– a workshop on developing an International Arctic Vegetation Database (IAVD) in the morning of followed by a half-day excursion on the natural history of Akureyri, Iceland • 31st January– a CAFF Flora Group workshop stressing Red Listing of Arctic & Boreal Vascular Plants and Circumarctic Plant Portal. • 1-3rd February– presentations to the CAFF Board. Herein, we are pleased to combine the workshop papers, abstracts, and summaries into a single CAFF report. The documents presented in this report follows the structure of the workshop and accordingly is divided into three sections as indicated in the dates above. Two projects are newly proposed CAFF projects – the International Arctic Vegetation Database (IAVD) and Circumarctic Plant Portal. Others are works in progress such as the Circumboreal Vegetation Mapping (CBVM) project and the Red Listing of Arctic & Boreal Vascular Plants. This report this report documents the status of the projects and their forward progression. Our grateful thanks to the CAFF Secretariat staff who graciously hosted the CFG workshops; these include Tom Barry, Executive Secretary; Olga Pálsdottir, Executive Assistant; and Kári Fannar Lárusson, Program Officer. Stephen Talbot July 2012 Eyafjörður in winter, Photo: Courtney Price 5 Vegetation Prototype of the Circumboreal Vegetation Map for Iceland Gudmundur Gudjónsson* Eythór Einarsson & Rannveig Thoroddsen Icelandic Institute of Natural History, Garðabær, Iceland Abstract The vegetation position of various areas and countries, including Iceland, has often been discussed, first within the Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map (CAVM) and now within Circumboreal Vegetation Map (CBVM) teams as part of the vegetation of the Arctic and boreal area and its classification into zones and subzones. In spite of the fact that Iceland is just a tiny part of this vast area, its rather complex situation is nevertheless of a certain interest. Maritime, boreal, alpine, and Arctic environmental factors are mixed together in a complex way to form the background for Iceland's vegetation, together with its flora, volcanic soils and climate. In this paper the vegetation position of Iceland will be discussed and two prototypes of the Boreal Vegetation Map of Iceland will be introduced. Keywords: Vegetation maps, Boreal, Arctic tundra, natural vegetation, Iceland Introduction The Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map (CAVM) was published in 2003 as a result of team work of scientists on Arctic vegetation in the circumpolar region that extended over a decade. Two of the present authors have been part of the CAVM team for Iceland. The Circumboreal Vegetation Map (CBVM) is a natural process of that former work. The situation in Iceland is rather complex with its maritime, alpine, Arctic and boreal environmental factors that are mixed together in a complex way to form the background for Iceland's vegetation, together with its flora, volcanic soils, and climate. This has in some ways caused some problems in classification of Iceland’s vegetation zones. In this paper these problems will be discussed and a brief overview of the position of Iceland within the CAVM. Also, the background for the prototype of the CBVM for Iceland will be introduced and finally a few words about the cooperation of southern Greenland and Faroe Islands in the Icelandic mapping effort for CBVM. A Brief Background of Vegetation Classification and Mapping in Iceland The structure of plant communities in Iceland as described and defined by the botanist Steindór Steindórsson around 50 years ago is still the basis of vegetation maps in Iceland today. However, the legend for the vegetation mapping has been slightly