The scientific research in the GPNP: the flora of proglacial areas

The Gran Paradiso Park is a high-altitude territory, where more than 50% of its area is above 2500 m, it is the realm of cliffs, debris and perennial snows.

For these reasons, permanent monitoring has been set up to focus on glacial retreat, plant colonisation and changes in the territory and biodiversity. The aim is to acquire robust scientific evidence and identify risks to high-altitude biodiversity.

Study area: Lauson glacier front in the Cogne Valley and Lavassey in the Rhêmes Valley (Aosta Valley) and Ciardoney in the Soana Valley (Piedmont). The sampling areas are fixed, recognisable by metal stakes, and changes in the number of species and vegetation cover are monitored through specific counts.

Colonisation has been found to be dozens of times faster than the prediction models, most likely due to the effects of the current climate crisis, including high summer temperatures and longer growing seasons than in the past. Early results tell us that remarkable changes are taking place near the glacial front, despite the environment being decidedly inhospitable.

Already one year after the glacial melt, pioneer species such as Saxifraga oppositifolia are able to colonise the moraine debris.

For those who want to learn more:

Scientific articles

-Mainetti et al. 2021 -‘Successional Herbaceous Species Affect Soil Processes in a High-Elevation Alpine Proglacial Chronosequence’

-Mainetti et al. 2022 - ‘Vegetation trajectories in proglacial primary successions within Gran Paradiso National Park: a comparison between siliceous and basic substrates’.