PARENT SESSION
Poster Session # 21: Biogeography, Biodiversity, Populations, and Genetics.
Thursday, August 7 Presentation from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM. SITCC Exhibit Hall B.
Alpine plant biogeography and species endemism in the Rocky Mountains.
Damm, Mary*,1, Bowman, William1, 1 University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
ABSTRACT- The distribution of vascular alpine plant species in the Rocky Mountains was examined over a latitudinal gradient. Studies in mountain systems in the northern hemisphere indicate that the number of alpine species with wide-ranging, circumpolar distributions is greater in areas closer to the arctic tundra, while the number of species with narrow ranges is greater in mountains further south. The pattern of alpine vascular plant species' distributions was identified in alpine floras over fifteen degrees of latitude from the Front and Main Ranges in Alberta, Canada, to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in New Mexico. The percentages of widely and narrowly distributed species were compared among the northern, middle, and southern Rocky Mountain physiographic regions. The geographic distribution of alpine plant species is significantly related to latitude. Species with wide-ranging circumpolar and North American distributions are greater in the northern Rocky Mountains. In contrast, the percentage of narrow-ranging Rocky Mountain and endemic species is greater in the southern Rocky Mountains.
Key words: species endemism, plant species' distributions, alpine plant biogeography, alpine floras