Proceedings Anniversary Event – 10 International Alpine Workshop ...

5 METHODS OF RESEARCH
5.1 ASSESSMENT OF VASCULAR PLANTS, KEY SPECIES & NEOPHYTES (NORBERT
MÜLLER)
Investigated will be all vascular plants, as well as certain key species and neophytes within
the 11 investigation areas (see Fig. 18). The investigation areas 1-8 correspond to the first
research workshops in 1991 & 1992 (Lippert et al. 1995).
With a simple method the frequency of vascular plant species in alpine river landscapes
will be recorded in repetition to the same investigations in 2004, 2005 and 2007.
The status of neophytes is classified according to Poldini et al. (2002) and supplemented
by Lohmeyer & Sukopp (1993) as well as Kowarik (2003).
Approach:
Transects were fixed in the respective investigation areas. They run straight through the
floodplain and the riverbed (see Fig. 36). An area of approx. 50m right and left of transect
is inspected in detail and in the fixed amount of time of two hours. The key species and
neophytes are recorded by frequency in the
a) Pioneer vegetation sites and
b) Floodplain Forests
The scale of frequency is
1 – rare (only few individuals)
2 – dispersed (occurrence with low frequency and/or low abundance)
3 – common (occurrence with high frequency and/or high abundance)
Fig. 36: River dynamics and structure of floodplain vegetation (simplified depiction) at the lower course of a
debris-rich northern alpine river (alpine foreland) before river regulation (from Müller 1995).
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