Monitoring plant communities

At different sites in the park, Parks Canada has established sites for monitoring plant communities. They are located at the treeline, an intermediary zone between sub-alpine forest and alpine tundra. This zone was selected because climate change shifts treelines upward as milder conditions allow forest species to survive at higher elevations. Routine surveys of plant communities here indicate which species are present and whether community composition changes over time. Logging devices also collect soil and air temperature as well as light intensity data in order to document physical conditions that affect plant growth at each plot. Analysing data on growing conditions and plant species will, as this monitoring program continues, improve knowledge about changes and long-term trends in treeline vegetation.