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Katie Rhodes is a 2024 graduate of the M.S. Program in Environmental Studies and Sustainability at Antioch University, New England.

Thesis Committee:

Peter Palmiotto, D.F., Chairperson

Timothy Howard, Ph.D.

Keywords

alpine, snowbed, snowbank, Adirondack, high peaks, vegetation change, transects, northeast, climate change

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2025

Abstract

Due to their unique species diversity and vulnerability, alpine snowbed communities have the potential to serve as early detection or ‘canary’ communities that can inform scientific understanding of the timing and physical manifestation of a changing alpine ecosystem. In the summer of 2008, fifteen alpine snowbed vegetation community transects over 5 mountain summits were established and studied in the High Peaks Wilderness Complex within the Adirondack State Park by the New York Natural Heritage Program. Each transect was 5 meters long and encompassed five 1x1 meter subplots. These transects were relocated and surveyed again in the summer of 2024 in order to evaluate temporal changes in snowbed community composition and structure over a 16-year timeline. Wilcoxon Signed Rank Tests and Generalized Linear Mixed Models were used to analyze paired transect level change in snowbed community growth habits, richness and diversity over time. This study also sought to quantify the relationship between abiotic variables such as elevation, aspect, slope, melt out day and soil characteristics and extent of change observed and compare the nature of soil characteristics between snowbed and other nearby alpine communities, as well as throughout the growing season, in order to inform soil chemistry and plant community composition interactions. A measure of diversity using the Shannon-Weiner index was found to have significantly increased from 2008 to 2024 (t = -2.0912, df = 74, p-value = 0.0399) in the study transects. There was no significant change in species richness or percent cover of species when examined in five growth habits (trees, shrubs, graminoid, herbaceous, and bryophytes) over the last 16 years. However, specific tree and graminoid species, namely Abies balsamea and Avenella flexuosadisplayed notable increasing trends. Adirondack snowbed communities appear to be demonstrating resilience against significant vegetation composition shifts traditionally associated with climatic changes that are being seen elsewhere in the world within the timeframe of this study. This thesis is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu).

Comments

ORCID No.: 0009-0009-4168-0528

Katie Rhodes holds a Bachelors in Environmental Science & Policy from Clarkson University and a Masters in Conservation Biology from Antioch University New England. Her work focuses on Northeastern North American alpine ecology. She is currently working for a land trust in Saratoga Springs, NY developing compiling biological inventories and providing ecological recommendations for their fee title preserves.

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