Alaska Alpines: from Sea Level to the
Mountain Peaks
Tony Reznicek
University of Michigan Herbarium
Saturday, October 22, 2011

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Where was I?

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The Edge of the Bering Glacier

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Far Inland ­ just below the Bagley Ice Field

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Winding Rivers of Ice

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Mount Steller in the Distance

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Fissures in the Top

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Up Close

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Debris Train from Rubble falling off the Mountains onto the Ice

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Rubble at the Melting Ice Front

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The Glacier Fragmenting & Melting

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..... & Dropping Icebergs

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Icebergs in Vitus Lake

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... & Floating Down the Seal River

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Ice Melting to leave a Kettle Hole

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A Water Filled Kettle

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A Small, Young Esker

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Old Tree Stumps Sheared off by a Glacial Advance

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A Stump
Sheared off
by the
Advancing
Glacier
Centuries
Ago

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Ancient Soil Horizons ­ One with a Tree Stump

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Getting there was half the fun...

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The Planes Get Smaller

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Our Camp

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At Home

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A Few Mosquitoes

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It gets Cold next to a Lake of Glacial Meltwater

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Across the Lake to the Glacier & Mount Steller

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But it is usually Cloudy...

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Or Worse...

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No Need to Hit the Store for a Bag of Ice

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How We Got Around

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Sedge Hunting from the Air

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Carex lyngbyei

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One of the Most Interesting Patterns

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Time to have a Close Look

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Eriophorum
chamissonis

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Plant Succession Beginning

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Various Ages of Deglaciation

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Lathyrus japonicus Chamerion latifolium

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Mimulus guttatus Salix alaxensis

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The Coast

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The Lowlands have Vast Shows of Flower

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Fireweed, Chamerion angustifolium

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Lupinus nootkatensis

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Poa macrantha
Leymus mollis

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Glehnia littoralis

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Carex macrocephala

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Senecio pseudoarnica

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Rocky Shore below the Beach at Low Tide

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Achillea millefolium
in Pink

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Castilleja
Gentianella amarella
unalaschensis

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Grass-of-Parnassus (Parnassia palustris)

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Botrychium lunaria
Yellow Fireweed
(Epilobium luteum)

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Fresh Meadows & Marshes behind the Beach

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Richer Meadows usually have Shorter Dominants

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Bog Candles (Platanthera dilitata)

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Coastal Cliffs

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Campanula latisepala

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Polypodium Fern & Potentilla villosa

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The very rare
Aleutian Adder s
Mouth Orchid
(Malaxis
diphyllos)

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Mountain Hemlock
(Tsuga mertensiana )
Old Growth Lowland Forests

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Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis)

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Giant Sitka Spruce

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Devil s Club
(Oplopanax
horridum)

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Red Elderberry
(Sambucus racemosa)

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Polystichum braunii

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Fen Openings

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Swertia perennis Malaxis paludosa

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Drosera anglica in Carex livida Stand

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Salmon Berry
(Rubus spectabilis)

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The Alpine Zone

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Also Extensive Swards of Flowers, but more Diverse

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Caltha
leptosepala

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Anemone narcissiflora

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Mountain Heather
(Cassiope mertensiana)

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Jacob s Ladder
(Polemonium
acutiflorum)
Primula eximia

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Jacob s Ladder (Polemonium acutiflorum) Campanula lasiocarpa

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Oxyria digyna

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Lutkea pectinata

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Astragalus alpinus

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Aconite (Aconitum delphinifolium)
Arnica (Arnica lessingii)

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Moss Campion (Silene acaulis)

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Gentiana platypetala

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Alpine poppy (Papaver alaskense)
Black Sarana

(Fritillaria camschatc ensis)

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Riverbeauty (Chamerion latifolium)
Found all the way from the Alpine to the Lowlands

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Northern Holly Fern Polystichum lonchitis

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Twinflower (Linnaea borealis)

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Aquilegia formosa

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The Weather is Very Changeable

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Organisms too Big to Press

Along the Coast...

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... & in the Mountains

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Signs of even Fiercer Life

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A Bit Scary....

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