Cushion plants on a talus slope at High Atlas, Morocco
by Jana Eichel, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
In the Moroccan High Atlas mountains, cushion plants, such as the spiny madwort (Alyssum spinosum) colonize talus slopes. With their adapted morphology, these pioneer dwarf shrubs are potentially able to stabilize these slopes. They also act as nurse plants and facilitate establishment for other species. Thereby, these species act as geomorphic and ecosystem engineers.
Categories
Location
- Africa (327)
- Northern Africa (133)
- Morocco (38)
- Exact location (-7.9197 W, 31.0854 N)
Tags
- high mountains (44)
- ecogeomorphology (2)
- biogeomorphology (4)
- talus slope (1)
- geomorphic-engineer species (1)
- high atlas (4)
- ecosystem engineer (1)
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4928 × 3264 px;
image/jpeg; 16.6 MB
Camera:
Pentax K-30
Taken on 24
September
2012
Submitted on 28 February 2014
Licence
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)
Credit
Jana Eichel (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)
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Konstantinos Kourtidis 9 years, 10 months ago
Are these indeed Alyssum spinosum? They look like Sacropoterium Spinosum.