1. This paper describes vegetation-environment relationships in the mountains, moorland and peatlands of upland Scotland. The analysis involves 48 environmental variables, covering location. topography, climate, geology, geomorphology and land-use, and 65 plant communities mapped for 88 sample sites. These environmental variables account for much of the variation in assemblages of plant communities within nine major biogeographical groups of sites.2. Correlations between environmental variables were investigated independently of the vegetation using principal components analysis (PCA). The first axis defines a gradient of increasing oceanicity from east to west (21.3% variance) and the second axis contrasts high sites forming extensive montane summits with somewhat warmer lower-altitude sites with little or no montane ground (17.5% variance). Precipitation has strong correlations with both axes. Grouse-moor management and small-patch burning are strongly correlated with the least oceanic areas.3. Site-community data were ordinated without any environmental variables using detrended correspondence analysis (DCA), and then with the environmental variables included using canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). Direct gradient ordination of the vegetation data by CCA shows that these environmental variables are sufficient to account for nearly all of the community variation that can be represented on the first three DCA axes. Species-environment correlations are between 0.91 and 0.93, with a close similarity between the CCA axes and those of the unconstrained DCA.4. The first 2 CCA axes explain 18% of the total variance in the vegetation with a clear pattern of geographical separation of sites separated on the axes. Axis 1 is strongly correlated with oceanicity (r = 0.68) and the number of wet days (r = 0.80). Axis 2 is strongly correlated with maximum altitude (r = -0.75). Axis 3 is correlated with latitude (r = 0.78) and summer temperature (r = -0.56), and gives a north-south division based on the extent of anthropogenic vegetation, showing that secondary changes have occurred regionally as well as locally.5. Geology appears to have little influence on the broad-scale pattern of vegetation with the exception of the geologically well-defined Breadalbane hills.6. The biogeographical analysis described here can be used to evaluate and then select sites of nature conservation interest. The CCA ordination-space can be used to detect sampling bias in groups of sites in relation to environmental variables and to show gaps in their geographical coverage.

A New Biogeographical Classification of the Scottish Uplands. II. Vegetation--Environment Relationships

Aim The study examined qualitative predictions of ecological theories in relation to the spatial distribution of species turnover of aquatic macrophytes, through the following parameters: (1) distance between lakes (2) chemical conditions of the lakes (3) chemical differences between the lakes, and (4) the lake size.



Location  562 lakes dispersed throughout Northern Ireland were analysed.



Methods  To obtain species turnover estimates independent of richness, the average distance between focal lakes and their five nearest neighbours in ordination space (DCA) was standardized by the species richness in a Generalized Additive Model (GAM). The relationships between species turnover and ecological (chemical condition, chemical difference, distance between lakes, and lake-size) and geographical parameters (latitude, longitude, and altitude) were analysed using GAM.



Results  The results indicate that the pattern in species turnover is a combination of the chemical conditions and the distance between the lakes, including the interaction term. The effects of chemical heterogeneity and lake size parameters were both positive but weak. In general, increased distance and decreased ionic concentration contribute to increased turnover. The influence of distance on species turnover is strongest at low and high altitude, and at mid-elevation the species turnover is mainly driven by the chemical conditions. Towards the north there is an increasing influence of distance, whereas in the south the chemical conditions have their strongest influence.



Conclusions  There is a need for components from several established ecological theories to explain the spatial trends in species turnover within Northern Ireland. Central theories in this particular study are the population/metapopulation dynamics, the continuum concept, and the species-pool concept.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/info/3697571

Trends in aquatic macrophyte species turnover in Northern Ireland — which factors determine the spatial distribution of local species turnover?

Heating degree-days are a measure of accumulated temperature that have been used by heating engineers to compare with fuel consumption figures for energy analysis. One of the problems with using degree-days is estimating their spatial variation which can be significant over short distances.



Objective mapping of the spatial variation in degree-days for Ireland has been achieved by applying statistical models of the spatial variation, over monthly, annual and heating season periods, to a specially constructed digital terrain model of Ireland. The resulting maps lend themselves to a more positive geographical appreciation of the variation involved and indicate areas with anomalous temperature regimes which invite further micro-scale studies. These maps will be of benefit to the energy industry and similar maps of growing degree-days could be constructed for use by the agricultural industry in Ireland. © 1997 the Royal Meteorological Society.

Objectively mapping accumulated temperature for Ireland

This thesis examines the spatial and temporal expression of Holocene glacier fluctuations in southeast Iceland. The study uses geomorphological evidence to reconstruct the former extent of Lambatungnajökull -a non-surging, valley glacier flowing from the eastern flank of the Vatnajökull ice-cap. Lichenometry is used to date recent glacial landforms and decode the pattern of glacier fluctuations over the last 300 years. Tephrochronology is used to date older features (<10,000 yr). The results show a pattern of fluctuations driven by climatic change. During the Lateglacial-Early Holocene Period the glacier terminus was situated at the present-day coastline. The ice-margin has retreated c. 20 km during the last 10,000 years. At least four periods of glacier re-advance have been identified, at c. 5000,3000,1600 and 170 years BP. Overall, the cumulative ice recession since c. 10 ka BP represents an ELA rise of c. 400 m which equates to an increase in mean air temperature of at least 2°C, assuming constant precipitation levels. Since the late 181" century, Lambatungnajökull has been in overall retreat. Moraines dated using two different lichenometric techniques indicate that the most extensive period of glacier expansion during historical time culminated shortly before c. AD 1795, probably in the 1780s. Recession over the last 200 years has been interrupted by re-advances in the 1850s, 1870s, and c. AD 1890. In the 20`h century, most notably in the 1930s and 1940s, Lambatungnajökull receded more rapidly than at any time during the previous 150 years. However, brief cold spells (-5 yrs), centred around the years AD 1918 and AD 1964, temporarily halted glacier recession. Lambatungnajökull has only retreated slightly over the last 20 years. The degree and nature of glacier retreat since 1930 compares well with similar-sized glaciers in southern Iceland. Furthermore, the pattern of glacier fluctuations over the last 150 years reflects the temperature oscillations recorded at nearby meteorological stations. Much of the climatic variation experienced in southern Iceland, and the glacier fluctuations that result, can be explained by secular changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation. A shift to more zonal atmospheric circulation and a weaker Icelandic Low resulting in a greater frequency of negative NAO anomalies may have been responsible for the cooling and associated glacier advances of the 18`h and 190' centuries. One implication of this work relates to the exact timing of the Little Ice Age in the Northeast Atlantic. The advanced position of glaciers during the late 18`" century suggests that this period represented the culmination of the Little Ice Age in Iceland. This contrasts with the current consensus that the Little Ice Age 'glacier maximum' in southern Iceland was during the late 19`h century. Other implications concern lichen-dating and its wider applications. Firstly, this research shows that the 'growth' curve of yellow-green Rhizocarpon lichens over the last 270 years in southeast Iceland is not linear. Although growth rates appear constant for periods of several decades, the growth 'curve' is exponential overall, with larger (older) lichens apparently growing more slowly than smaller lichens. Secondly, growth rates of Rhizocarpon Section Rhizocarpon in Iceland vary as a function of climate, with growth in the moist, maritime, southeast being c. 40% faster than in the cooler and drier northwest. Thirdly, this growth rate relationship across the Northeast Atlantic region as a whole can best be expressed in terms of climatic 'oceanicity' (r2 = 0.95). This latter relationship could be used to estimate lichen growth rates in areas where dating curves cannot be constructed. Finally, these findings suggest that lichen growth rates are likely to have varied in response to climatic change. In Iceland, slow-growing lichens, such as Rhizocarpon, probably grow more rapidly now since the climatic amelioration of the 1920s and 30s than they did in the cooler and drier periods of the 18's and 19'" centuries.

Glacier fluctuations, lichenometry and climatic change in Iceland

Climate Change, Ecology and Systematics: Climate change and oceanic mountain vegetation: a case study of the montane heath and associated plant communities in western Irish mountains

The oceanicity/continentality of the climate of the north of ireland

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The oceanicity/continentality of the climate of the north of ireland