Abstract
Cliff faces worldwide have recently been recognized as sites that harbour ancient forests, endangered biota and high levels of biodiversity, but knowledge is limited of the physical factors organizing cliff-face vegetation communities. Two large scale (geographic), five local, and eight fine scale (microtopographic) physical factors were examined using regression and Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) to determine what scale of physical factors best explains variation in cliff-face vegetation on the 785 km long Niagara Escarpment in southern Ontario, Canada. The richness, frequency and community composition of vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens were determined for 72 cliff-face quadrats to discern whether these vegetation groups followed different patterns in their responses to the measured physical factors. A total of 124 different taxa (consisting of 50 vascular plant species, 21 bryophyte species, and 53 lichen taxa) were found on the cliff faces sampled in this study, though only 28 of these taxa were present in more than 10% of the sampled quadrats. Vascular plant and bryophyte species richness and frequency, and lichen frequency were only significantly correlated with microtopographic factors, while lichen species richness was correlated with a variety of fine and local scale physical factors. The fine scale factor ‘volume of soil’, in particular, was highly correlated with variation in richness or frequency for all vegetation groups, with increasing volume of soil correlated with increasing vascular plant richness and frequency and decreasing bryophyte richness and lichen frequency. A suite of local and fine scale physical factors also explained large proportions of variation in cliff-face vegetation community composition. A large scale gradient in the vegetation community was detected, though it resulted from fine scale physical differences between sites rather than from a latitudinal gradient. These results suggest that distinct subcommunities of vegetation exist on cliff faces and correlate with fine scale differences in microtopography.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ashton D.H., Webb R.N. (1977) The ecology of granite outcrops at Wilson’s Promontory, Victoria. Aust. J. Ecol. 2:269–296
Bartlett R.M., Matthes-Sears U., Larson D.W. (1990). Organization of the Niagara Escarpment cliff community II. Characterization of the physical environment. Can. J. Bot. 68:1931–1941
Booth B.D., Larson D.W. (1998). The role of seed rain in determining the assembly of a cliff community. J. Veg. Sci. 9:657–668
Brodo I.M. (1998). Lichens of the Ottawa region. Ottawa Field Naturalists’ Club and the National Museum of Natural Sciences, Ottawa, Ontario
Brodo I.M., Sharnoff S.D., Sharnoff S.S. (2001). Lichens of North America. York University Press, New Haven and London
Bunce R.G.H. (1968). An ecological study of Ysgolion Duon a mountain cliff in Snowdonia. J. Ecol. 56:59–75
Camp R.J., Knight R.L. (1998). Effects of rock climbing on cliff plant communities at Joshua Tree National Park, California. Conserv. Biol. 12:1302–1306
Coates F., Kirkpatrick J.B. (1992). Environmental relations and ecological responses of some higher plant species on rock cliffs in northern Tasmania. Aust. J. Ecol. 17:441–449
Cooper A. (1997). Plant species coexistence in cliff habitats. J. Biogeograph. 24:483–494
Cox J.E., Larson D.W. (1993a) Environmental relations of the bryophytic and vascular components of a talus slope plant community. J. Veg. Sci. 4:553–560
Cox J.E., Larson D.W. (1993b) Spatial heterogeneity of vegetation and environmental factors on talus slopes of the Niagara Escarpment. Can. J. Bot. 71:323–332
Crum H.A. (1983). Mosses of the Great Lakes forest. 3rd ed. University Herbarium, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Crum H.A., Anderson L.E. (1981). Mosses of Eastern North America. Vols. 1&2. Columbia University Press, New York
Davis P.H. (1951). Cliff vegetation in the eastern Mediterranean. J. Ecol. 39:63–93
Farris M.A. (1998). The effects of rock climbing on the vegetation of three Minnesota cliff systems. Can. J. Bot. 76:1981–1990
Gleason H.A., Cronquist A. (1991). Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York
Haig A.R., Matthes U., Larson D.W. (2000). Effects of natural habitat fragmentation on the species richness, diversity, and composition of cliff vegetation. Can. J. Bot. 78:786–797
Hale M.E. (1969). How to Know the Lichens. Smithsonian Institute, WM. C. Brown Company Publishers, Dubuque, Iowa
Hobbs R.J., Huenneke L.F. (1992). Disturbance, diversity, and invasion: implications for conservation. Conserv. Biol. 6:324–337
Krajick K. (1999) Scientists – and climbers – discover cliff ecosystems. Science 283:1623–1624
Kelly P.E., Larson D.W. (1997). Effects of rock climbing on populations of presettlement eastern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis) on cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment, Canada. Conserv. Biol. 11:1125–1132
Kelly P.E. and Larson D.W. 2003. The Niagara Escarpment Ancient Tree Atlas Project, Volume 2. Cliff Ecology Research Group, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada
Krebs C.J. (1989). Ecological Methodology. HarperCollins Publishers, NY, New York
Larson D.W., Kelly P.E. (1991). The extent of old-growth Thuja occidentalis on cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment. Can. J. Bot. 69:1628–1636
Larson D.W., Spring S.W., Matthes-Sears U., Bartlett R.M. (1989). Organization of the Niagara Escarpment cliff community. Can. J. Bot. 67:2731–2742
Larson D.W., Matthes U., Kelly P.E. (2000). Cliff Ecology: Pattern and Process in Cliff Ecosystems. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Lonsdale W.M. (1999). Global patterns of plant invasions and the concept of invasibility. J. Ecol. 80:1522–1536
Malloch A.J.C., Okusanya O.T. (1979). An experimental investigation into the ecology of some maritime cliff species. I. Field observations. J. Ecol. 67:283–292
Matthes U., Ryan B.D., Larson D.W. (2000). Community structure of epilithic lichens on the cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment, Ontario, Canada. Plant Ecol. 148:233–244
McMillan M.A., Larson D.W. (2002) Effects of rock climbing on the vegetation of the Niagara Escarpment in Southern Ontario, Canada. Conserv. Biol. 16:389–398
McVean D.N., Ratcliffe D.A. (1962). Plant communities of the Scottish Highlands. Monographs of the Nature Conservancy, 1. Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, London
Newmaster S.G., Lehela A., Uhlig P.W.C., Oldham M.J. (1998). Ontario Plant List. Queen’s Printer for Ontario, Ontario
Nuzzo V.A. (1995). Effects of rock climbing on cliff Goldenrod (Solidago sciaphila Steele) in Northwest Illinois. Am. Midl. Nat. 133:229–241
Nuzzo V.A. (1996). Structure of cliff vegetation on exposed cliffs and the effect of rock climbing. Can. J. Bot. 74:607–617
Oettli M. (1904). Beitraege zur Oekologie der Felsflora. Jahrbuch der St. Gallischen Naturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft fuer das Vereinsjah. 1903:182–352
Oosting H.J., Anderson L.E. (1937). The vegetation of a barefaced cliff in western North Carolina. Ecology 18:280–292
Pentecost A. (1980). The lichens and bryophytes of rhyolite and pumice-tuff rock outcrops in Snowdonia, and some factors affecting their distribution. J. Ecol. 68:251–267
Phillips D.L. (1981). Succession in granite outcrop shrub-tree communities. Am. Midl. Nat. 106:313–317
Roberts D.W. (1986). Ordination on the basis of fuzzy set theory. Vegetatio 66:123–131
Rusterholz H., Muller S.W., Baur B. (2004). Effects of rock climbing on plant communities on exposed limestone cliffs in the Swiss Jura mountains. Appl. Veg. Sci. 7:35–40
Sanderson E.W., Jaiteh M., Levy M.A., Wannebo A.V., Woolmer G. (2002). The human footprint and the last of the wild. BioScience 52:891–904
SAS Institute 2001. SAS version 8.2. SAS Institute Inc., Cary, North Carolina
Soper J.H., Heimburger M.L. (1982). Shrubs of Ontario. Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto
Studlar S.M. (1980). Trampling effects on bryophytes: trail surveys and experiments. Bryologist 83:301–313
Studlar S.M. (1983). Recovery of trampled bryophyte communities near Mountain Lake, Virginia. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 110:1–11
terBraak C.J.F. and Smilauer P. 2003. CANOCO for Windows version 4.51. Biometrics – Plant Research International, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Tovell W.M. (1992). Guide to the Geology of the Niagara Escarpment. Ashton-Potter Ltd. Concord, Ontario
Ursic K.A., Kenkel N.C., Larson D.W. (1997). Revegetation dynamics of cliff faces in abandoned limestone quarries. J. Appl. Ecol. 34:289–303
Voss E.G. (1972). Michigan Flora. Part I – Gymnosperms and Monocots. Cranbrook Institute of Science and University of Michigan Herbarium, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Wong P.Y., Brodo I.M. (1992). The Lichens of Southern Ontario, Canada. Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Ontario
Acknowledgements
We thank Drs. Uta Matthes and Irwin Brodo for their assistance with identification of lichen samples, Dr. Steven Newmaster for his assistance with identification of bryophyte samples, Mr. Alex Folkl for his assistance in the field, and Dr. Hans Henrick Bruun for comments on an earlier draft of this paper. We thank three additional anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on this manuscript. We thank the various parks, conservation authorities and private landowners for granting us permission to sample on their properties. We acknowledge funding from the Alpine Club of Canada (Environment Fund grant to KK), the Arthur Douglas Latornell Endowment Fund (Conservation Scholarship to KK), and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Post Graduate Scholarship to KK; operating grant to DWL).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kuntz, K.L., Larson, D.W. Microtopographic control of vascular plant, bryophyte and lichen communities on cliff faces. Plant Ecol 185, 239–253 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-006-9101-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-006-9101-z