Recent spatial development of Svalbard strandflat vegetation over 31 years.

Myrtille Moreau (1) , Dominique Laffly (2) , Thierry Brossard (3)

1 GEOLAB - Laboratoire de Géographie Physique et Environnementale
2 GEODE - Géographie de l'environnement
3 ThéMA - Théoriser et modéliser pour aménager (UMR 6049)

Vegetation succession was analysed at the forefields of two glaciers in Svalbard at an interval of 31 years (1975–2006). In 1975, 85 sampling sites were positioned along transects extending from the coastline to the glacier fronts; botanical observations were made at each sampling site. The protocol allowed us to carry out new observations in 2006 under the same conditions. Thus, it was possible to undertake a botanical assessment of species and taxa and to see how the vegetation has changed in reference to a typology established by coupling correspondence analysis and ascending hierarchical classification. Vegetation succession at the sampling sites was also measured by using vectors positioned in the multidimensional space of correspondence analysis. In this way, the changes over the interval between seven vegetation types were plotted and mapped, and the colonization process was calibrated and dated against a series of reference stages, mainly since the end of the Little Ice Age.

Mots clés: releves; plant dynamics; Spitsbergen; correspondance analysis

Domaines: Géographie; Milieux et Changements globaux

Myrtille Moreau, Dominique Laffly, Thierry Brossard. Recent spatial development of Svalbard strandflat vegetation over 31 years.. Polar Research, 2009, 28, pp.364-375. ⟨10.1111/j.1751-8369.2009.00119.x⟩. ⟨halshs-00468638⟩