Plant Succession in Glacier Bay

Lupine wildflowers & other hardy plants are growing in rocky soil exposed by Lamplugh Glacier.

NPS Photo/S. Willoughby

Newborn Scenery

 

Changes to the land do not stop when the land is freed from the clutches of glacial ice. In fact, it is only the beginning, for life is eager to blanket the barren land left by a retreating glacier. This is the story of plant succession. Imagine being on the bare landscape outside your window to watch this story be revealed. You may want to get comfortable because to grow a forest many decades are necessary.

The landscape has been scraped bare. The first thing you would notice is rock, sand, and silt. You would feel the cold, hard rock and hear the cry of arctic terns nesting among the cobbles. After a few years, you will start to notice lichens attached to the rocks and the yellow Dryas flowers spreading out from a fissure where the seeds were able to catch hold and put down roots.

In about 80 years, you would be resting in the green shade of alder trees. Alders are a pioneer plant, able to supplement their need for nitrogen by extracting this element from the air. In winter, alders drop their leaves, creating soil for yet larger plants. No longer will you hear Arctic terns, but in its place the springtime song of warblers.

Two-hundred years from now, Sitka Spruce trees will dominate the land. Their towering growth will cast shade year-round in the forest, providing a cool retreat for wildlife. The ground is now soft, with thick layers of moss covering the rocks and boulders. The air is saturated with the fragrance of leaves and flowers accompanied by the song of the varied thrush floating throughout the forest.

See plant succession in pictures, and learn more about plant succession in Glacier Bay, here.