Alpine soil islands plant species composition, 2024.

High alpine ecosystems are particularly sensitive to climate-driven change, with vegetation expansion increasingly observed in historically barren soils. In late August and early September 2024, we revisited 50 previously established vegetation plots in Green Lakes Valley (Niwot Ridge LTER) to evaluate patterns of plant colonization and community change over time. Using legacy vegetation data from 2008 and 2015, we assessed changes in plant cover and composition in relation to microtopography and prior plant occurrence. We resampled plots using spatially referenced 1-meter radius surveys, estimating species incidence and cover while documenting moss, lichen, sedge, and grass diversity. These data can provide insight into how priority effects and fine-scale environmental variation influence alpine plant community dynamics and may inform predictive models of plant responses to ongoing climatic shifts.高海拔山地生态系统对气候驱动的环境变化尤为敏感，历史裸土区域的植被扩张现象愈发显著。2024年8月末至9月初，我们对绿湖谷（Niwot Ridge LTER）内50个已设立的植被样地开展重访，以评估植物定植与群落随时间推移的变化模式。本研究借助2008年与2015年的历史植被数据集，评估了植物盖度与群落组成的变化，并分析其与微地形（microtopography）及既往植物定植情况的关联。我们采用带空间参考坐标的1米半径样方调查法对样地进行重采样，估算物种出现率与盖度，同时记录苔藓、地衣、莎草与禾本科植物的多样性。本数据集可为解析优先效应（priority effects）与精细尺度环境变异如何影响山地植物群落动态提供理论洞见，同时可为预测植物对持续气候变化响应的模拟模型提供科学参考依据。