The Results of the Three Cycle of Global Monitoring GLORIA Network of the Central Great Caucasus

Proceedings of The 3rd World Conference on Climate Change and Global Warming

Year: 2023

DOI:

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The Results of the Three Cycle of Global Monitoring GLORIA Network of the Central Great Caucasus

Gigauri Kh., Abdaladze O., Asanidze Z., Bakhia A.

ABSTRACT: 

Climate has been changing and the most rapid changes are expected in the high mountain area. Changes in the development and functioning of these most sensitive areas have an influence on the diversity of the vegetation. The long-term monitoring program GLORIA was established for monitoring the alpine plant cover transformation within the framework in which Georgia (the Central Great Caucasus) has been participating since 2001.Three cycles of the monitoring period have already been carried out (2002-2008; 2008-2015; 2016-2022). Our research presents the analysis of the data from 2002–2022. The study includes the following aspects: The species cover, Soil temperature, Growing degree day (GDD), Thermic indicator (S), Thermophilization index (D), and “new species” detection on permanent monitoring plots. GDD in 2008-2022 period showed relatively little growth tendency in contrast to the previous data of the 2002-2008 years. The thermic indicator (S) decreased on all summits during the monitoring period. The abundance rank of dominant species did not change and the endemic and cold-adapted species are not severely endangered. The average annual soil temperature hasn’t been increased and all the changes should be considered as some local fluctuations and not as consecutive.

keywords: Climate global change, GLORIA, Soil temperature, Growing degree day, Alpine vegetation