Dynamics of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Vegetation of Amchitka Island, Alaska

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Abstract
Amchitka has a maritime tundra regime which is reflected in a uniform meadow-like vegetation of few vascular plant taxa. The vegetation, above the sandy beaches, exists as a continuum of types which fall into definable topoenvironmental units along a moisture gradient from fen to bog, with a wind blowout-solifluction zone at higher, exposed sites. Plant productivity, litter breakdown and decomposition, and secondary plant successional processes are all retarded by the low-energy input climate.