Sauteria alpina
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/10.15298/arctoa.23.02 |
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DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15427785 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/463C87FA-FF87-FFE5-FF75-FD22A004FC57 |
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treatment provided by |
Felipe |
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scientific name |
Sauteria alpina |
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Sauteria alpina View in CoL -dominated plant communities
were related to two syntaxa, one variant of association and one type of community.
Association Distichio capillacei–Saxifragetum oppositifoliae ( Gjaerevoll, 1956) stat. nov. hoc loco, Sauteria alpina – variant ( table 2 View Table 2 , type relevй III). Diagnostic taxa (DT) of association are Saxifraga oppositifolia , S. cernua , Poa alpina , Distichium capillaceum . Alpha diversity was from 23 to 45 species. DT of variant, thallose liverworts, dominate in plant cover; most conspicuous is Sauteria alpina , also present Preissia quadrata and Peltolepis quadrata . Most abundant is Anthelia juratzkana, DT of class Salicetea herbaceae. Meso-, hygrophytic mosses Pohlia drummondii , Polytrichastrum alpinum , Limprichtia revolvens , Encalypta alpina , Philonotis tomentella are constant and dominant species. Vascular plants (DT of alliance and association) are scattered and don’t form closed cover, among them Salix polaris , Saxifraga oppositifolia , S. cernua and Oxyria digyna are most prominent. Due to light-colored thallus of Sauteria alpina communities have very special aspect, especially when liverworts are in ‘fructiferous state’ ( Gjaerevoll, 1956).
Communities were described by Gjaerevoll (1956) in most calcareous areas of northern part of Scandinavian Mts., at 735-1105 m alt., mainly on north-east exposed slopes, usually as ‘pioneer’ communities on moist unstable soil, subject to frost boiling, solifluction and sloping movement. Snow patches were reported to melt in late July-early August. As far as plant communities are regarded as ‘pioneer’, they can be substituted by the next stage of succession, by dwarf shrubs- and herbs-dominated snow-bed plant communities. That was probably the reason why we haven’t found them nearby permanent snow fields on the north-exposed slope of Laktatjakka Mt in August 2010.
Community Saxifraga oppositifolia – Sauteria alpina ( Fig. 3, 4 View Figs , tab. 2 View Table 2 , type releve 193-01). Alpha diversity was from 15 to 21 species. DT Cardamine pratensis ssp. angustifolia , Cochlearia groenlandica , Phippsia algida , Bryoerythrophyllum recurvirostrum , Pseudocalliergon turgescens , Drepanocladus polygamus , Sauteria alpina .
Sauteria alpina forms almost closed cover, together with mosses Distichium capillaceum , Bryoerythrophyllum recurvirostrum , Pseudocalliergon turgescens , Drepanocladus polygamous , scattered dwarf shrubs ( Saxifraga oppositifolia ) and meso- and hygrophytic forbs and graminoids Cardamine pratensis ssp. angustifolia , Phippsia algida , Draba alpina and Cochlearia groenlandica . Vascular plants are typical for unstable substrata, some of them prefer rather moist fine earth ( Phippsia algida ), and other are indifferent ( Draba alpina ) and can be met almost everywhere on Svalbard.
Rather rare plant communities occur in calcareous substrata, on unstable and moist fine earth of the seashore terrain of the Trygghamna bay, on the first seaside terrace about 1 km to the Protektorfjellet, Svalbard archipelago, on moving slopes of hills and in peripheral zone of solifluction patches and represent first stage of succession on bare soil.
Prodromus of Sauteria alpina -dominated plant communities in Svalbard and Scandinavian Mts.
Class Salicetea herbaceae Br.-Bl. in Br.-Bl. et al. 1947
Order Salicetalia herbaceae Br.-Bl. ap. Br.-Bl.& Jenny 1926
Alliance Saxifrago– Ranunculion nivalis Nordh. 1943 em. Dierssen 1984
Association Distichio capillacei–Saxifragetum oppositifoliae ( Gjaerevoll 1956) stat. nov.
Community Saxifraga oppositifolia – Sauteria alpina
DISCUSSION
In northern European countries Sauteria alpina occurs throughout the Scandinavian Mts. from the central part of Norway northwards and is rather rare in the southern parts but in the North it is generally more or less common in subalpine and low alpine, calcareous areas and may be found up to the high-alpine zone (Mеrtensson, 1955). In Finland Sauteria alpina is known from three biogeographical provinces on the north – Kuusamo, Enontekio Lapland and Inari Lappland ( Laaka-Lindberg & al., 2009). Furthermore this species is known in the Fennoscandian regions of Russia: in Murmansk Province – Khibiny Mts., Kutsa area and Salnye Tundry (Borovichev & al., 2012) and Republic of Karelia – only on anthropogenic habitat (on the soil covering industrial limestone) in Petrozavodsk (Borovichev, 2008). In accordance with all data of literature Sauteria alpina doesn’t take dominance in communities and occurs in minor proportion in plant cover or as single thalli on bare soil. Plant communities with high dominance of Sauteria alpina described in Svalbard and Scandinavian Mts. are among rarest communities for both areas and were not covered earlier. They are characteristic for unstable and moist substrata, and in both areas represent first succession stages. In communities on following succession stages Sauteria alpina seems not to compete with latest invaders and ‘run away’ in rather minor microhabitats (soil cracks and solifluction patches).
Composition and number of vascular plants in Sauteria alpina -dominated communities is quite different in both areas ( Svalbard and Scandinavian Mts.) with only Saxifraga oppositifolia in common ( tab. 2 View Table 2 ), due to location of communities in different natural zones: in the arctic zone on Svalbard and in the boreal zone in Scandes. On the same reason it is not surprising that these communities in Scandinavian Mts. occur in highest points, where plant communities were recorded (at 800- 1000 m), near permanent and long-lying snow-fields, and on Svalbard they were described on the seashore terrain, at 30-40 m a. s. l.
Almost all vascular plants in Scandinavian communities have rather narrow ecological niche (as Ranunculus pygmaeus , Saxifraga cernua , S. oppositifolia and are typical for moist fine earth of snow bed habitats, near springs and brooks, on moist screes and solifluction patches mainly in high alpine zone. On Svalbard they are among widespread and commonest species.
Both types of Sauteria alpina -dominated communities belong to the class Salicetea herbaceae, which includes snow-bed communities on both acidic and calcareous substrata with dominance of meso-, hygrophytic dwarf shrubs and herbs and abundant mosses and liverworts. Plants distribution patterns reflects variations in time of snow retreat, soil moisture and substrata instability. Diagnostic taxa are Salix herbacea , S. polaris , Omalotheca supina Harrimanella hypnoides , Ranunculus glacialis , R. nivalis , R. pygmaeus , R. sulphureus , Saxifraga nivalis , S. rivularis , Sibbaldia procumbens , Minuartia biflora , Sagina saginoides, Kiaeria starkei, Polytrichum sexangulare , Racomitrium sudeticum , Pohlia drummondii , Anthelia juratzkana , Pleurocladula albescens , Gymnomitrium apiculatum , Solorina crocea .
More or less extensive and closed communities dominated by liverworts Anthelia juratzkana , Pleurocladula albescens , Gymnomitrium apiculatum are rather common in late snow-bed and sometimes in some destroyed moist habitats, on acidic and neutral fine earth, clayey and gravelly substrata, in high Arctic and in mountains of boreal zone. These communities are related to alliance Cassiopo–Salicion herbaceae and were described in various, mainly mountainous areas of Europe ( Gjaerevoll, 1956; Dierssen, 1996, 2001).
Communities with dominance of Sauteria alpina presented in this paper belong to another alliance Saxifrago– Ranunculion nivalis (syn. Saxifrago oppositifolio– Oxyrion digynae Gjaerevoll 1956, Salicion polaris Du Rietz 1942 , Ranunculo-Oxyrion Nordhagen 1936), which comprises meso-, hygrophytic plant communities in calcareous late snow-bed habitats. DT are Salix polaris , S. reticulata , Oxyria digyna , Dichodon cerastoides , Ranunculus nivalis , Cerastium arcticum , Arabis alpina , Saxifraga tenuis , Veronica alpina , Trisetum spicatum , Carex lachenalii . Plant communities of this alliance were described in high Arctic and mountainous Scandinavia ( Gjaerevoll 1956; DierЯen, 1996; Nilsen &Thannheiser, 2013), but there are almost no data about communities dominated by liverworts.
Syntaxonomical affiliation of Sauteria alpina -dominated plant communities to Alliance Saxifrago– Ranunculion nivalis is preliminary, because of their ‘pioneer’ stage and rather spontaneous assemblage of species, which can typify different alliances, characteristic for moist and unstable, calcareous and alkaline substrata (i.e. Cochleariopsion groenlandicae Hadač 1989, Saxifrago– Ranunculion nivalis and Puccinellion phryganodis Hadač 1946). Plant communities of mentioned alliances actually occur in different habitats and environmental conditions. Alliance Cochleariopsion groenlandicae includes nitrophytic communities on rich moist soil. Halophytic communities of Puccinellion phryganodis occur on seashore. Meso-, hygrophytic communities of Saxifrago– Ranunculion nivalis are typical and wide-distributed in snow-beds on terrains and lower mountain slopes. Inspite of such a strong ecological differentiation of habitats, on the ‘pioneer’ stages of all these alliances can be composed by the same species which are presented in community Saxifraga oppositifolia – Sauteria alpina (i.e. Phippsia algida , Cochlearia groenlandica , Draba alpina ) with most abundant Sauteria alpina .
Table 2. Ass. Distichio capillacei–Saxifragetum oppositifoliae var. Sauteria alpina and community Saxifraga oppositifolia–Sauteria alpina
| Syntaxa | Distichio capillacei–Saxifragetum oppositifoliae | community Saxifraga oppositifolia – | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| var. Sauteria alpina | Sauteria alpina | |||||||||
| Coverage,% | ||||||||||
| total dwarf shrubs and herbs mosses Elevation, m Exposure | 85–90 800 NE | 75–90 90–95 800 735 NE N | 75–90 75–90 50–75 no data no data 735 1105 960 N S E | 75–90 constancy 860 N | 95 20 80 30 | 100 80 15 15 90 80 30 30 | 95 20 85 30 | 90 10 90 40 | constancy | |
| Number of taxa | 47 | 45 34 | 36 23 | 23 | 30 | 17 | 20 15 | 18 | 21 | |
| Releve number, | ||||||||||
| from author | I | II III | IV V | VI | VII 193–01 | 193–3 193–4 | 193–5 | 194–1 | ||
| from table | 1 | 2 3 | 4 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 10 | 11 | 12 | |
| Diagnostic taxa of variant Sauteria alpina | ||||||||||
| Sauteria alpina | 2a | 2a 3 | 2a 2b | 1 | – V | 3 | 2 3 | 2 | 2 | V |
| Preissia quadrata | 2a | 1 1 | + 1 | 2a | 1 V | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Peltolepis quadrata | 1 | 1 1 | 2a – | – | + IV | – | – – | – | + | I |
| Diagnostic taxa of ass. Distichio capillacei–Saxifragetum oppositifolii | ||||||||||
| Saxifraga oppositifolia | 1 | 1 1 | 1 2a | 2b | 1 V | 1 | + 1 | 1 | r | V |
| Distichium capillaceum | 1 | + 1 | 2a 2b | 1 | 3 V | + | 2 + | + | 3 | V |
| Saxifraga cernua | 1 | 1 1 | 1 1 | 1 | 1 V | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Poa alpina | 2a | 2a 2a | 2a 1 | 1 | 2a V | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Diagnostic taxa of community Saxifrago oppositifolia – Sauteria alpina | ||||||||||
| Cardamine pratensis ssp. angustifolia | – | – – | – – | – | – – | 1 | + 2 | 2 | 1 | V |
| Phippsia algida | – | – – | – – | – | – – | + | 1 1 | 1 | + | V |
| Bryoerythrophyllum recurvirostrum | – | – – | – – | – | – – | 2 | + 2 | – | 2 | IV |
| Pseudocalliergon turgescens | – | – – | – – | – | – – | – | 3 2 | + | + | IV |
| Drepanocladus polygamus | – | – – | – – | – | – – | 2 | – 2 | 3 | – | III |
| Cochlearia groenlandica | – | – – | – – | – | – – | + | – – | r | r | III |
| Diagnostic taxa of Alliance Saxifrago– Ranunculion nivalis | ||||||||||
| Salix polaris | 2a | 2a 2a | 1 1 | 1 | 1 V | – | – – | – | – | – |
| S. reticulata | + | – + | + + | + | + V | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Oxyria digyna | 2a | 2a 1 | 2a + | + | 1 V | – | + – | – | – | I |
| Ranunculus pygmaeus | + | 1 1 | + 1 | + | + V | – | + – | – | + | II |
| Dichodon cerastoides | 1 | 1 1 | + – | – | 1 IV | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Ranunculus nivalis | + | + + | – – | – | – III | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Cerastium arcticum | – | – – | + + | + | – III | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Arabis alpina | 1 | 1 1 | + – | – | – III | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Saxifraga tenuis | 1 | 1 + | – – | 1 | – III | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Veronica alpina | – | + – | + – | + | 1 III | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Trisetum spicatum | + | + + | + – | – | + IV | – | – – | – | – | — |
| Carex lachenalii | 1 | 1 1 | – 1 | – | + IV | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Diagnostic taxa of Class Salicetea herbacea | ||||||||||
| Anthelia juratzkana | 3 | 3 + | + – | 2a | – IV | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Pohlia drummondii | 2a | 2a 2a | 2a – | – | + IV | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Sagina saginoides | + | + – | 1 – | 1 | + IV | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Minuartia biflora | + | – + | + – | – | + III | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Omalotheca supina | + | + – | + – | + | – III | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Saxifraga rivularis | – | – – | + – | – | – I | r | r – | – | – | II |
| other species | ||||||||||
| Silene acaulis | + | + – | + 1 | 2a | + V | r | – – | r | – | II |
| Bistorta vivipara | + | + + | + 1 | 1 | + V | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Blepharostoma trichophyllum | + | + + | – + | – | + IV | – | + + | + | + | IV |
| Cerastium alpinum | + | + 1 | 1 – | – | + IV | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Erigeron uniflorus | + | + + | + – | – | + IV | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Sagina intermedia | + | + – | 1 1 | 1 | – IV | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Saxifraga aizoides | 1 | – 1 | + – | – | 1 III | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Taraxacum croceum | + | + – | – – | – | + III | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Juncus biglumis | + | 1 + | – – | – | – III | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Sanionia uncinata | – | + + | + – | – | – III | – | – – | + | 1 | II |
| Bartramia ithyphylla | + | 1 + | – – | – | – III | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Brachythecium turgidum | + | + + | – – | – | – III | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Bryum pseudotriquetrum | – | + + | – + | – | – III | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Limprichtia revolvens | – | + + | + – | – | – III | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Encalypta alpina | 1 | + 1 | 3 – | – | 1 IV | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Philonotis tomentella | + | + 2 | – – | – | + III | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Polytrichastrum alpinum | 2a | 2a – | + – | 1 | + IV | – | 1 – | – | – | I |
| Cladonia pyxidata | – | – – | – + | + | + III | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Peltigera rufescens | + | – – | – + | + | + III | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Solorina saccata | – | – – | + + | – | + III | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Stereocaulon rivulorum | – | – – | – + | + | + III | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Nostoc spp. | 1 | 1 1 | – – | – | – III | – | – – | – | – | – |
| Bryum sp. | – | – – | + – | – | – I | + | – + | – | + | III/+ |
| Scapania cuspiduligera | – | – – | – – | – | – – | + | – r | – | + | III/r–+ |
| Tritomaria scitula | – | – – | – – | – | – – | r | – – | + | + | III/r–+ |
| Draba alpina | + | – – | – – | – | – – | – | – r | – | – | – |
| Orthothecium chryseon | – | + + | – – | – | – II | – | – – | – | r | I/r |
| Pohlia cruda | – | + + | – – | – | – II | – | – – | – | + | I |
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