Sandra Looman Talbot

Numerical classification of the coastal vegetation of Attu Island, Aleutian Islands, Alaska

. This phytosociological study of the beaches, dunes, and associated lower mountain slopes of Attu Island is the first effort to identify the major coastal vegetation types of the Aleutian Islands using numerical methods. It is the first attempt to use the releve method in southern coastal Alaska and provides a basis for future comparison with other areas. 76 releves represent the range of structural and compositional variation in the matrix of vegetation and landform zonation at 16 locations. Data are analyzed by multivariate methods using the MULVA-4 computer package and ordered with Wildis numerical procedure to produce results similar to traditional phytosociological tabular classification. Nine major community types are distinguished in four physiognomic groups: 1. Dwarf-shrub mire: Vaccinium uliginosum-Empetrum nigrum; 2. Meadow: Athyrium filix-femina-Streptopus amplexifolius, Artemisia tilesii-Veratrum album, Elymus mollis-Montia (Claytonia) sibirica, Ligusticum scoticum-Elymus mollis; 3. Beach meadow: Elymus mollis-Senecio pseudo-arnica, Lathyrus maritimus-Elymus mollis; and 4. Beach: Mertensia maritima and Arenaria (Honckenya) peploides. These community types are described and interpreted in response to a complex, topographic gradient. Phytogeographic comparison of Attu Island with neighboring areas suggests close relationship to the beach and beach-meadow types of eastern Kamchatka and to the mesic meadows of the Alaskan Semidi Islands; there is a slightly lower relationship to the mesic meadows of nearby Buldir Island.

Lichens of Adak Island, Central Aleutian Islands, Alaska

Two hundred nineteen taxa of lichens including one lichen parasite are reported from Adak Island in the central Aleutian Islands, Alaska. Stereocaulon leprocephalum is new to North America; Caloplaca ferrugineofusca and Verrucaria ditmarsica are new to Alaska. The lichen flora is dominated by wide-ranging arctic-alpine and boreal species; a coastal element is moderately represented, while amphi-Beringian species form a minor element. This phytogeographic pattern is very similar to that of Attu Island, the westernmost Aleutian Island. The Aleutian Islands are a chain of mountainous volcanic islands extending in an arc 1,900 km west from the tip of the Alaska Peninsula approaching the Commander Islands of northeast Asia. Adak Island is in the Andreanof Islands group within the central Aleutian Islands. Adak, the largest (748 km2) of this island group, is dominated by rugged mountainous terrain and broad rolling lowland areas; modified volcanic cones, Mt. Moffett and Adagdak, occur in the northern part and narrow beaches are usually found adjacent to sea cliffs. As one of the central islands in the Aleutian chain, Adak Island is of considerable phytogeographic interest. Hitherto the lichen flora of Adak Island has received little attention. The only existing literature records are found in three reports that collectively report 32 species. Degelius (1937) reported lichen specimens collected by the Swedish botanist Eric Hult6n in 1932 that included 14 lichens from Adak Island. Later, Stair (1948) added five species to the flora based on a collection of W. J. Christian. Hein (1980) increased the list by 13 species. Of the species reported on Adak Island by previous authors only five, Alectoria sarmentosa (Ach.) Ach., Cetraria ciliaris Ach. (= Tuckermannopsis ciliaris), Cladonia pseudoevansii Asah. (= Cladina pseudoevansii), Pertusaria glomerata (Ach.) Schaerer, and Umbilicaria proboscidea (L.) Schrader, were not collected by the present authors. Comparative data from the nearest Aleutian Islands for which the lichen flora is relatively well known are Amchitka Island, 250 km to the west of Adak Island, and Attu Island, 650 km to the west. Thomson and Sowl (1989) reported the known total of Amchitka Island as 149 species and Talbot et al. (1991) reported 160 taxa for Attu Island. In the Tuxedni Wilderness Area of western lower Cook Inlet, Alaska, 1,800 km to the east of Adak Island, Talbot et al. (1992) reported 218 taxa. Caribou were introduced to Adak Island during the 1940s and lichens are known to be important in their diet (Sjenneberg & Slagsvold 1979; Sveinbjornsson 1990). Our qualitative observations of Adak Island lichens suggest that lichen cover may have been reduced due to grazing pressure from caribou. As a pioneering effort, the present study provides a checklist and voucher collection if future range assessment becomes necessary.

Lichens of Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Westernmost Alaska Peninsula

Abstract One hundred eighty-two taxa of lichens including two lichen parasites are reported from Izembek National Wildlife Refuge on the tip of the Alaska Peninsula. Metasphaeria tartarina is new to North America; Scoliciosporum umbrinum is new to Alaska. Wide-ranging, arctic-alpine, and boreal species dominate the lichen flora; a coastal element is moderately represented, while amphi-Beringian species form a minor element. Epigeic lichen abundance is described along a lowland to alpine mesotopographic gradient selected to represent major landscape variation in the refuge. Of six major community types identified, three had significant lichen components.

Lichens from Simeonof Wilderness, Shumagin Islands, Southwestern Alaska

Abstract One hundred eighty-eight taxa of lichens are reported from Simeonof Island in the Shumagin Islands of southwestern Alaska. Wide-ranging arctic-alpine and boreal species dominate the lichens; a coastal element is moderately represented, while amphi-Beringian species form a minor element. The lichen component of Empetrum nigrum dwarf shrub heath, the dominant vegetation type, was analyzed to identify the most frequently occurring lichens within this community.

Lichens from St. Matthew and St. Paul Islands, Bering Sea, Alaska

Abstract One hundred thirty-nine taxa of lichens including two lichen parasites are reported from St. Matthew and St. Paul Islands in the Bering Sea. Caloplaca lithophila is new to Alaska. Wide-ranging arctic-alpine and boreal species dominate the lichens; a coastal element is moderately represented, while amphi-Beringian species form a minor element. In comparison with St. Paul Island, St. Matthew Island is richer in arctic-alpine species.

Vascular flora of Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Westernmost Alaska Peninsula, Alaska

Abstract The vascular flora of Izembek National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), where few previous collections had been reported, was collected and recorded at sites selected to represent the totality of environmental variation. A total of 349 species (339 native and 10 introduced) was identified. To provide a comparative phytogeographic framework, we analyzed data from published reports that categorized vascular plant distribution patterns from a circumpolar, North American, and Alaskan perspective. The native flora of the Izembek NWR primarily includes species of circumpolar (38%), eastern Asian (23%), Eurasian (18%), and North American (13%) distribution. The most important longitudinal distributional classes in North America consist of transcontinental (62%) and extreme western species (31%). The annotated list of species in Izembek NWR expands the range of many species, filling a distributional gap in Hulténs Western Pacific Coast district. Forty notable range extensions are reported. The flora of Izembek NWR is primarily made up of boreal species and lacks many of the species considered to be Arctic. Comparison with the Raunkiaer life-form spectrum similarly points to the boreal.

Vegetation of eastern Unalaska Island, Aleutian Islands, Alaska

Plant communities of Unalaska Island in the eastern Aleutian Islands of western Alaska, and their relationship to environmental variables, were studied using a combined Braun-Blanquet and multivari...

Lichens of Tuxedni Wilderness area, Alaska

A total of 218 taxa of lichens, including one lichenicolous fungus, is reported from Tuxedni Wilderness area in western lower Cook Inlet, Alaska. Lecanora epanora, Micarea denigrata, and Trapeliopsis flexuosa, are new to Alaska. Xanthoria alaskana Thomson sp. nov. is described. Compared with lichen distribution in British Columbia, the lichen flora of the Tuxedni area falls into five distributional categories, the majority of species occurring in coastal, wet interior, and alpine and subalpine ecological-geographic subdivisions. The most important northern hemisphere distributional categories are wide-ranging circumpolar arctic-alpine and boreal, western North American, and amphi-Beringian.