Mt. Grand Station : Baseline survey of the vegetation and soils

Abstract

This report describes the results of a baseline survey of the high altitude (> 1000 m) snow tussock grasslands on Mt Grand Station. Forty permanently marked 50 m line transects were established in December 1996. The plant species present along each transect were recorded in height tiers at each of 100 sample points, and the data for each species were converted to an index of plant biomass. Soil samples were collected and analysed for soil nutrients from each transect, and the elevation, aspect and any other important environmental attributes of the sample sites were recorded.