Rare Plants and Establishing the GLORIA Long-Term Climate Change Monitoring Protocol in the Alpine Sweetwater Mountains of Mono County, California Mark Darrach1, Adelia Barber2, Elizabeth Bergstrom3, Constance Millar4 1Corydalis Consulting, Pendleton, OR, 2University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 3USDA Forest Service, Humboldt-Toiyabe N.F., Carson City, NV, 4USDA Forest Service, Sierra Nevada Research Center, Albany, CA Abstract The GLORIA alpine climate monitoring program is a worldwide effort aimed at documenting precise vegetation changes - both compositional and as a function of cover - over time in alpine settings using a set protocol with permanent monumented multi-summit plots across a low to high alpine elevational gradient below the nival zone. While the program is still in its nascent stages in North America, several permanent GLORIA stations are now established in the California Sierra Nevada target region, including the White Mountains, Mt. Dunderberg, and Freel Peak south of Lake Tahoe. The GLORIA effort now includes a newly-established station in the Sweetwater Mountains of Mono County, California as of mid-July 2012. The Sweetwater Mountains comprise a spectacular suite of summits above timberline that offer the opportunity to observe the temporal and spatial progression of climate-induced modifications to vegetation on a unique geological substrate. Above timberline the Sweetwater Mountains displays one of the most botanically diverse and significant concentrations of rare vascular plants in an alpine setting in the continental United States, if not all of North America. The novel geologic setting of highly geothermally argillized acidic volcanic rocks at high elevation has allowed for the presence of a robust clay component in soils throughout the alpine portion of the range. This is in a setting where typical rock weathering processes that produce clay mineral assemblages are kinetically limited. This clay component, with attendant elevated moisture retention capacity, provides for a rich and varied alpine flora that is of importance for understanding how vegetation responds to climate modification in this unusual setting. The alpine Sweetwater Mountains vegetation presents complex and challenging conservation issues from both direct human impacts - e.g. off-road vehicle damage - and indirect anthropogenic climate-induced perspectives. Sweetwater Mtns. Rare Taxa GLORIA Climate Monitoring Table 1. Rare Plant Taxa In Alpine Sweetwater Mountains GLORIA – Global Observation & Scientific Name Common Name Heritage Status Research In Alpine Environments Astragalus platytropis broad-keeled milkvetch CNPS list 2.2 Methods Boechera bodiensis Bodie Hills rockcress CNPS list 1B.3 • Select three (four) mountain Claytonia megarhiza alpine springbeauty CNPS list 2.3 summits within a single bioclimatic Claytonia umbellata Great Basin springbeauty CNPS list 2.3 target region. Elevations of the Draba breweri var. cana hoary draba CNPS list 2.3 summits ideally progress from Overview Draba incrassata Sweetwater Draba CNPS list 1B.3 treeline to the nival zone (Figure 8). Festuca minutiflora small-flowered fescue CNPS list 2.3 • For the Sweetwater Mountains Above timberline the Sweetwater Mountains of Mono County, California harbor Oreocarya sp. nov. Sweetwater cryptantha CNPS likely list 1B.2 target region, we chose the three summits of Wheeler Peak, and two Fig 8. GLORIA Summits – From Fig 10. GLORIA Crew 2012 On Summit an unusually diverse suite of vascular plant species and infraspecific taxa. Hunter Polemonium chartaceum Mason’s sky pilot CNPS list 1B.3 and Johnson (1983) document 173 species in the alpine portions of the range. unnamed subordinate lower Treeline to the Subnival Zone of Wheeler Peak in Sweetwater Mtns. Subsequent surveys have increased this number to perhaps 200 – several of Senecio pattersonensis Mount Patterson ragwort CNPS list 1B.3 elevation summits near Belfort town site and south of Wheeler which are rare (Table 1 and Figures 1 – 5). Townsendia condensata* cushion townsendia CNPS list 2.3 Results The underlying reasons for this robust diversity have not been adequately Peak respectively (see map). Townsendia parryi Parry’s townsendia CNPS – likely list 2.2 Summit elevations range from 3143 discussed in the literature. Recent botanical surveys in the range above 70 timberline have included attention to geologic substrates and the general *possibly undescribed taxon presently undergoing molecular genetic analysis at the University of British – 3554 m. Surface area of GLORIA Sweetwater Mtns. Mid-Elevation Summit Columbia by Christopher Lee clay-rich substrate geologic history of the area. It has become apparent that widespread low– macroplots vary greatly as a 60 Carson Range function of summit geography and 2006 & 2011 temperature hydrothermal argillic (e.g. clay-forming) alteration plays a guiding Sweetwater Mtns. 50 role in allowing for the diverse flora, with the broad suite of lithologies that percent slope. 2012 • Lay out a nested monitoring design 1st Survey Data Great Basin NP occur in the range likely playing a secondary role. Argillic alteration has 40 2008 5 years later produced voluminous amounts of moisture-retaining clays (Figures 6 and 7) on each summit, photo document, Sierra Dunderberg creating an unusual, and perhaps novel, high elevation soil type where and monument high summit point 30 2004 & 2009 and corners (Figure 9). The design White Mtns. weathering processes would otherwise be kinetically limited. Quartzites 20 emphasizes a geographic hierarchy 2004 & 2009 The uniqueness of the vegetation and substrates in the Sweetwater Species Richness White Mtns. Mountains, the ease of access, combined with the extensive relief above of plot sizes, from 0.01m plots to 5m and 10m elevational sections on 10 Dolomites timberline, provide an appropriate setting for establishment of a long term Data Credit: Adelia Barber 2005 & 2010 multi-summit GLORIA climate monitoring site. In this regard the Sweetwater each summit. 0 Fig 1. Polemonium chartaceum Fig 2. Astragalus platytropis • Compile a synoptic vascular species Mountains GLORIA target area was established in July of 2012 with permanent photo credit Rebecca Stubbs photo credit Mark Darrach 3000 3500 4000 4500 monumented plots installed on three summits (Figures 8, 9 and map). list and separate vascular species Elevation (meters) lists for each summit section; The ease of access to the alpine Sweetwater Mountains has also attracted Species Richness By Elevation Across California and measure specified variables for illegal off-road vehicle activity (Figure 10) that is actively destroying the Nevada GLORIA Clusters 2004 through 2012 vegetation over broad areas of the range. This illegal activity presents major plant cover, frequency, and management and regulatory challenges for the Humboldt-Toiyabe National abundance within the nested Forest in a time of severe budgetary constraints. Clearly there is a significant regions of each summit need for finding solutions to this ongoing loss of a unique and priceless resource • Place temperature data loggers at via partnering with other advocacy organizations that have a vested interest in depth of 10cm at center of 3m x 3m maintaining the ecological integrity of the alpine reaches of the Sweetwater quadrat clusters. Data loggers Mountains. record temperature hourly for 5- Fig 3. Townsendia cf. condensata Fig 4. Senecio pattersonensis years photo credit Mark Darrach photo credit Mark Darrach • Archive plant specimens with herbaria, and archive photos and data with GLORIA international database • Resurvey every 5-years GLORIA Plot Locations in the Sweetwater Mountains Vascular Plant Taxa Documented on Sweetwater Mountains GLORIA Plots Fig 6. Clay soil induced frost polygons Fig 5. Draba incrassata Family Scientific Name Family Scientific Name Family Scientific Name Fig 7. Close-up of frost polygons Fig 9. GLORIA Summit Plot Layout Apiaceae Cymopterus cinerarius Montiaceae Cistanthe monosperma Pinaceae Pinus albicaulis photo credit Mark Darrach photo credit Mark Darrach photo credit Mark Darrach Asteraceae Antennaria rosea Brassicaceae Anelsonia eurycarpa Poaceae Achnatherum occidentale ssp. occidentale Asteraceae Artemisia dracunculus Brassicaceae Arabis depauperata Poaceae Achnatherum pinetorum Asteraceae Artemisia nova Brassicaceae Arabis lemmonii Poaceae Elymus elymoides ssp. brevifolius Asteraceae Artemisia rothrockii Brassicaceae Arabis pendulocarpa Poaceae Festuca brachyphylla ssp. breviculmis Management Concerns – How To Curb Illegal OHV Usage? Table 2. Species Richness Data Asteraceae Chaenactis douglasii var. alpina Brassicaceae Arabis platysperma Poaceae Koeleria macrantha Asteraceae Ericameria discoidea Brassicaceae Draba breweri Poaceae Leucopoa kingii Asteraceae Ericameria parryi ssp. monocephala Brassicaceae Draba densifolia Poaceae Muhlenbergia richardsonis GLORIA Species GLORIA Species Asteraceae Ericameria sufruiticosa Brassicaceae Draba subumbellata Poaceae Poa cusickii ssp. epilis Cluster Richness Cluster Richness Asteraceae Erigeron algidus Brassicaceae Physaria kingii Poaceae Poa secunda ssp. secunda Rampant illegal off-road vehicle use of the alpine portions of the Sweetwater Mtns. Asteraceae Erigeron clokeyi Caryophllaceae Arenaria kingii ssp. glabrescens Polemoniaceae Ipomopsis congesta var. palmifrons is inflicting massive damage to the fragile alpine tundra. Motorcycle and ATV usage Asteraceae Erigeron compositus Caryophyllaceae Minuartia nuttallii spp. gracilis Polemoniaceae