Relationships Between Landform and Phyto-Diversity in the Turtmann Valley, Switzerland

Landscape variety, landform diversity and vegetation richness are closely linked in high mountain regions and build a complex interacting ecological system. The main focus of this study is to analyse these relations between phyto-di-versity and landform using a DEM from very high resolution data (HRSC) of the Turtmann valley, Switzerland. During fi eld campaigns in 2005 and 2006 vegetation, especially the number of species was mapped in 2x2m and 10x10m plots considering certain topographic classes. Additionally, particularly topographic parameters and indices were derived from a DEM (HRSC). First statistical analysis showed fair correlations between height, curvature, wetness, distance to ridges and solar radiation with the number of species. A prediction of plant diversity by stepwise multiple linear regression s of remote sensing derived parameters showed moderate results with R of 0.45. With R of 0.35 partial least square regressions (PLS) as well showed average correlations between species richness and landform parameters