Recovery of Alpine Plants after a Severe Human Disturbance in the Andes of Central Chile

Figures & data

Figure 1 Water potential recorded through time in disturbed (black circles) and non-disturbed (white squares) areas of the south-facing slope (A) and the northwest-facing slope (B) in the surroundings of the La Parva Ski complex in the Andes of central Chile. Means are shown with 2 SE.

Figure 2 Daily cycles of average temperature in bare-ground disturbed (black circles) and non-disturbed (white circles) areas of south-facing slope (A) and northwest-facing slope (B) in the surroundings of the La Parva Ski complex in the Andes of central Chile during one entire growing season. Means are shown with 2 SE.

Table 1 Percentage vegetation cover per species observed in disturbed and non-disturbed areas of two slopes of different exposure in the surroundings of the La Parva Ski complex in the Andes of central Chile during the 2006 and 2007 growing seasons. Means are shown with 2 SE. Means with different letters differ significantly (Student t-tests, P < 0.05; and a posteriori Tukey HSD tests, P < 0.05 for total cover).

Figure 3 Number of seeds deposited per m² per day per species in seed traps located in disturbed (black bars) and non-disturbed (white bars) areas of south-facing slope (A) and northwest-facing slope (B) in the surroundings of the La Parva Ski complex in the Andes of central Chile during the 2006 growing season. Means are shown with 2 SE. Bars with asterisks differ significantly (Student t-tests, P < 0.05).

Figure 4 Number of seedlings emerged per m² during the 2007 growing season in disturbed (black bars) and non-disturbed (white bars) areas of the south-facing slope in the surroundings of the La Parva Ski complex in the Andes of central Chile. Means are shown with 2 SE.

Figure 5 Percentage of seedling survival of different species emerged during the 2007 growing season in disturbed (A) and non-disturbed areas (B) of the south-facing slope in the surroundings of the La Parva Ski complex in the Andes of central Chile.