Table 1.
Plant age, above- and below-ground characteristics of 13 plant species from a machine-graded ski slope at 2625 m a.s.l. in the order of their life form
| Biomass (g dry matter) |
|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Species | Family | Life form | Growth form | Root type | n | Age (years) | Shoots | Roots | Horizontal root spread (cm) | Total root length (cm) | Mean root diameter (mm) |
| Arabis caerulea All. | Brassicaceae | Forb | Sem | Tap | 5 | 5·6 (0·8) | 0·48 (0·17) | 0·04 (0·01) | 0 | 31·0 (4·8) | 2·4 (0·3) |
| Campanula scheuchzeri Vill. | Campanulaceae | Forb | Sem | Lateral | 5 | 8·5 (0·4) | 0·48 (0·08) | 0·20 (0·09) | 70·0 (9·0) | 854·7 (279·5) | 1·4 (0·1) |
| Geum reptans L. | Rosaceae | Forb | Sem | Tap | 2 | 14·5 (2·4) | 1·50 (0·46) | 1·72 (0·41) | 30·0 (0) | 159·1 (5·9) | 2·3 (0·2) |
| Leucanthemopsis alpina (L.) Heywood | Asteraceae | Forb | Sem | Lateral | 5 | 2·8 (0·2) | 0·12 (0·03) | 0·10 (0·03) | 11·0 (1·0) | 568·3 (159·6) | 1·0 (0·03) |
| Ranunculus glacialis L. | Ranunculaceae | Forb | Sem | Lateral | 5 | NA | 0·19 (0·09) | 0·37 (0·13) | 74·7 (12·6) | 732·7 (201·3) | 1·0 (0·05) |
| Trifolium badium Schreb. | Fabaceae | Forb | Scap | Lateral | 5 | 3·4 (0·2) | 0·96 (0·23) | 0·25 (0·09) | 38·4 (5·0) | 809·0 (250·4) | 0·7 (0·01) |
| Veronica alpina L. | Scrophulariaceae | Forb | Scap | Lateral | 5 | NA | 0·16 (0·07) | 0·05 (0·01) | 71·0 (10·0) | 546·7 (107·7) | 0·5 (0·02) |
| Luzula alpinopilosa (Chaix) Breistr. | Juncaceae | Graminoid | Caesp | Fibrous | 5 | NA | 0·76 (0·19) | 0·92 (0·17) | NA | 16470·0 (4520·9) | 0·9 (0·02) |
| Luzula spicata (L.) DC. | Juncaceae | Graminoid | Caesp | Fibrous | 5 | NA | 1·44 (0·36) | 0·41 (0·12) | NA | 17402·3 (6749·8) | 0·9 (0·01) |
| Poa alpina L. | Poaceae | Graminoid | Caesp | Fibrous | 5 | NA | 0·45 (0·15) | 0·26 (0·06) | NA | 3117·9 (1171·0) | 0·8 (0·1) |
| Trisetum spicatum (L.) Richter | Poaceae | Graminoid | Caesp | Fibrous | 5 | NA | 0·90 (0·25) | 0·39 (0·25) | 38·8 (3·3) | 5660·6 (3412·5) | 0·9 (0·02) |
| Salix breviserrata Floderus | Salicaceae | Shrub | Caesp | Plate | 5 | 9·8 (0·3) | 0·45 (0·04) | 0·76 (0·19) | 96·8 (11·4) | 1014·5 (145·9) | 1·3 (0·03) |
| Salix herbacea L. | Salicaceae | Shrub | Rept | Plate | 5 | 8·4 (0·4) | 0·30 (0·06) | 0·24 (0·06) | 63·6 (14·3) | 450·8 (110·3) | 1·2 (0·03) |
Values are means with s.e.m. in parentheses. Within a column, the highest values are in bold. Growth form abbreviations are: caesp, caespitosa; scap, scaposa; sem, semi-rosulata; and rept, reptantia. n is the number of sampled plant individuals; NA, not analysed.