Vegetation patterns and dynamics on a rock glacier in the Northern Apennines

Abstract

The vegetation colonizing a rock glacier in the north-western cirque of M. Giovo (Northern Apennines) was recorded according to the Braun-Blanquet method. Numerical methods were employed both to classify and to order the phytosociological relevés. Relevés were classified by average linkage based on the similarity ratio. Four main vegetation types were so identified. They were ecologically characterized by an indirect gradient analysis based on correspondence analysis. Furthermore, dynamic connections between vegetation types were hypothesized by principal component analysis.