The mountains

The mountains are a harsh habitat. As is also the case on Svalbard, the summer in the mountains is short and cool, and the winter is long and cold with a great deal of snow. The wind can become strong along the ground. We humans tend to find the mountains beautiful, exciting and challenging. We may head into the mountains to find calm and enjoy the view, or to test ourselves in harsh terrain. But we always have the option of retreating indoors when it gets too harsh. Plants that live in the mountains do not have that option. They cannot move when the wind howls and ice crystals fly about that can break their leaves to pieces, or when the ground freezes and they no longer have access to water. So why would anyone want to be a plant in the mountains? The advantage is that there is plenty of light and plenty of space. Few plants manage to grow under such harsh conditions, and so there is little competition for the species that do.

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How can plants in the mountains survive?

Plants in the mountains are small and low-growing, and they often grow in dense tufts or cushions. Here they can create their own microclimate that is much warmer than the surrounding air. See, for example, the description of moss campion. Frost in the ground for much of the year, along with a great deal of wind and sun, puts the plants in the mountains at risk of drying out. They therefore often have small leaves with little surface area (e.g. crowberry), hairs on their leaves and stems (e.g. mountain avens), a waxy layer on the leaves (e.g. lingonberry) or fleshy leaves (e.g. glacier buttercup).

Many flowers are shaped like a parabola in order to capture as much of the sun’s warmth as possible. They can even turn the flower so that it points towards the sun throughout the day. In this way the flower is warmed up extra and becomes a more attractive place for insects, which pollinate the plant. At the same time, the increased warmth also makes the fruit develop more quickly. Examples of species with this trait are mountain avens and glacier buttercup.

The short growing season in the mountains makes it difficult for the plants to manage to produce flowers, become fertilised, develop fruits and seeds, and spread these to new favourable growing sites. More than half of the plants in the high mountains have therefore also developed the ability to spread as clones (see, for example, alpine bistort).

Because of the harsh climate, plants in the mountains grow quite slowly. If you damage the vegetation, it can therefore take several decades or centuries before the plants fully re-establish themselves.

Dividing up the mountains

We divide the mountains into three zones: low-alpine, mid-alpine and high-alpine.

The zones are divided according to which plant species grow there.

The high-alpine zone is the harshest place in the mountains. It is found only on our highest peaks. Here it is mostly only mosses and lichens that grow. Glacier buttercup is the flowering plant that has been found highest in the mountains, 2,360 m above sea level on Galdhøpiggen (Hamre 2006).

In the mid-alpine zone there are more species of heather and grass, and in the low-alpine zone small shrubs appear, such as willow, juniper, dwarf birch and bilberry.

Below the alpine zone is the mountain birch forest, which is important for many of the animals that live in the mountains. You can read more about the mountain birch forest in the section on forest.

Weather, going conditions and terrain affect where the species can live.

Snow has a great deal to say for the distribution of species in the mountains. And the wind is very important, because it moves the snow around the landscape. The snow settles like a duvet and protects both plants and animals through the winter. When the storm rages, snow crystals fly through the air and it is minus 30 degrees in the air, it is completely still and around 0 degrees beneath the snow cover. The lemming can scurry around in its tunnels under the snow, find food and reproduce, and plants such as dwarf willow are warm enough to survive the winter. Deeper hollows in the terrain, where the snow cover becomes thick and lies well into spring, are called snowbeds. The opposite are ridges (rabber), raised areas where the snow blows away. Here only a few species grow, such as alpine bearberry and lichen. These areas are nonetheless important for animals such as reindeer, hare and ptarmigan, since they can find food here through the winter. Another difference in the terrain is between south- and north-facing slopes. South-facing slopes get more sunlight and warmth, the snow melts earlier in the season, and there is generally more lush plant life. Try to notice these differences in vegetation between the north and south side, and between ridge and snowbed, the next time you go into the mountains.

Plants in the mountains

Lichen

Lichen consists of two different species, even though it is not something we can see. It is a fungus and an alga growing together, and both benefit from one another. The fungus forms the ‘body’, which can take up water and minerals from the air, and the alga produces energy through photosynthesis. Different species of lichen are different combinations of fungus and algae. There are around 2,000 different species of lichen in Norway (Bakke 2017).

More about lichen

Lichen can grow on stone, soil, bark, leaves, other lichens, or hang from branches, and you can find it almost everywhere in nature. Lichen can grow in many extreme environments, since it can tolerate, for example, high heat, but also extreme cold and drying out. Lichen can enter a dormant state when it becomes too dry or cold. That is also why we find a fair amount of lichen the higher we go up in the mountains. What lichen tolerates very poorly is polluted air. That is why one rarely finds lichen in cities. Lichen grows very slowly and can become extremely old. In fact, lichen is reckoned to be among the oldest living organisms on Earth. You can use the size of a lichen to date when, for example, a cliff was exposed.

Lichen is quite cool in the way that it can dissolve rock and stone so that minerals in the stone become available for growth. They do this by secreting lichen acids. Some of the lichen acids also help give the lichens their colour, which is most often yellow, brown, black or grey. The colour protects the lichen against ultraviolet radiation.

Lichen has in earlier times been used for food, animal fodder, medicine, dyeing textiles and as insulation material in houses.

We can group lichen by growth form into three main groups:

• Crustose lichen

  is common on stone, sits firmly attached to its substrate and is quite flat in structure.

  Map lichen is an example of crustose lichen.

• Fruticose lichen

  resembles small shrubs and thus grows taller than crustose lichen. We cannot tell the difference between the upper and lower side of fruticose lichen.

  An example of fruticose lichen is reindeer lichen.

• Foliose lichen

  can resemble fruticose lichen; the form is leaf-like and flat with a clear difference between the upper and lower side. Examples of foliose lichen are Iceland moss and yellow wall lichen.

• Some types of lichen

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Next steps

• Lakes, watercourses and bogs — another biotope
• Forest — another biotope
• Cultural landscape — another biotope
• Learn more about plants — species knowledge and reference
• Plants — the hub

Learn more

• Artsdatabanken — species, status, red list
• SNL — norsk botanikk — encyclopaedic
• Sopp- og Nyttevekstforbundet — courses and identification checks
• Botanisk forening — Norwegian botany community

Text Lærke Søndergaard Stewart, Snuitide (2022)

• Sources

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  Bakke, H.H.K. & Munkebye, E. (2016). Økologi for grunnskolelærerutdanningen. 1. utgave. Cappelen Damm AS.

  Bevanger, K. & Jonsson, B. (2007). Kysten. Flora og fauna. 2. utgave. Cappelens Forlag AS.

  Bjerkely, H.J. (2018). Norske naturtyper – økologi og mangfold. 2. utgave. Universitetsforlaget.

  Halleraker, J. H. (2019, 5. desember). naturtyper. https://snl.no/naturtyper

  Hamre, H.B. (2006). Fjellet. Flora, fauna, geologi. 2. utgave. Cappelens Forlag AS.

  Kvammen, P.I., Lie, S., Nyhus, G.C. & Vedum, T.V. 2021, Ødegaard, T. (2021). Oppdag naturen. 2. utgave. Fagbokforlaget.

  Sabima (u.å.). VI SKAL REDDE GAMMELSKOGEN! Hentet 12. juli 2022 fra https://www.sabima.no/reddgammelskogen/

  Store norske leksikon: https://snl.no/

  Sømme (1987). Vegetasjonssoner. I Blystad, J.T. (red.) (2010). Turlederboka (s. 172). Oslo. Den Norske Turistforening

  Urtekildens Planteleksikon: https://rolv.no/urtemedisin/medisinplanter.htm