Environmental Controls on Turf-Banked Terraces

Daniel J Weiss; Stephen J Walsh; Sean A McKnight; Evan S Hammer

doi:10.1016/S0928-2025(08)00205-8

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Environmental Controls on Turf-Banked Terraces

Book chapter

Peer reviewed

Environmental Controls on Turf-Banked Terraces

Daniel J Weiss, Stephen J Walsh, Sean A McKnight and Evan S Hammer

Developments in Earth Surface Processes: The Changing Alpine Treeline The Example of Glacier National Park, MT, USA, pp.85-106

Elsevier BV

2009

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0928-2025(08)00205-8

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Abstract

Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience

ecological pattern metrics

environmental controls of composition and structure

turf-banked terraces

Turf-banked terraces in the alpine tundra of Glacier National Park, Montana, are typically characterized by alternating stripes of flat, stone-covered treads or steps and angled risers covered by alpine tundra vegetation. Previous research has suggested that the presence of turf-banked terraces is controlled by local environmental settings, particularly, topographic conditions. In this research, regression analysis is used to assess the correlations between turf-banked terrace characteristics and a set of hypothesized environmental controls. Measures of turf-banked terraces include the widths and standard deviations of treads, risers, and all stripes measured at 55 areally distributed 50-m field transects; the ratio of riser width to tread width; and a set of four one-dimensional pattern metrics that assess the spatial structure of the tread/riser sequences. These measures were derived using a run-length approach for field transects distributed in basins located throughout the eastern side of the Continental Divide. The environmental variables, generated from a 10-m spatial resolution digital elevation model (DEM), include elevation, slope angle, slope aspect, slope curvature, and soil moisture potential. Our results show that several turf-banked terrace characteristics are significantly correlated with individual environmental variables; stronger relationships are found when turf-banked terrace characteristics are related to transformed (i.e., principal components analysis) environmental variables using multiple regression analysis.

Details

Title: Environmental Controls on Turf-Banked Terraces
Authors: Daniel J Weiss (Author)
Stephen J Walsh (Author)
Sean A McKnight (Author)
Evan S Hammer (Author)
Contributors: David R Butler (Editor)
George P Malanson (Editor)
Stephen J Walsh (Editor)
Daniel B Fagre (Editor)
Publication details: Developments in Earth Surface Processes: The Changing Alpine Treeline The Example of Glacier National Park, MT, USA, pp.85-106
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date published: 2009
DOI: 10.1016/S0928-2025(08)00205-8
ISBN: 9780444533647
Organisation Unit: University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99449466902621
Output Type: Book chapter

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