Ramskogler, Katharina; Hofmeister, Florentin; Castlunger, Sofia; Kinzner, Sarah; Tasser, Erich (2026): Environmental variables along elevation gradients on disturbed and undisturbed sites in three valleys of the Central European Alps [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.991478

The European Alps are particularly affected by climate change, experiencing more frequent heavy rainfall events as well as degradation of permafrost. These changes, in turn, trigger disturbance by geomorphic processes, which can influence vegetation development. The objective of the study of Kinzner et al. (2026) was to analyse the effects of disturbance on vegetation cover and species richness and to assess the response of individual species and plant groups and also analyse the effects of environmental parameters. In three different valleys in the Central European Alps vegetation surveys were conducted along elevation gradients. At each 100-metre interval of elevation, wherever feasible, a plot was established on a disturbed site as well as always a plot on undisturbed sites with a size or 10 × 10. The surveys in Martell Valley and Kauner Valley were performed twice, the one in Horlach Valley once. We estimated the cover of vascular species in percent. Using the cover values we calculated the community weighted means (CWM) of each Landolt indicator value (Landolt et al. 2010). Additionally, we calculated the relative cover of cryophilic and thermophilic species, different strategy types, and different functional plant groups. Furthermore, we extracted for each point the elevation, inclination, and aspect from digital terrain models (DTM) provided by the Chair of Physical geography of the Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt (for Kauner and Horlach Valley from 2017 and for Martell Valley from 2019). The extracted aspect was transformed to northness and eastness according to Dial (2017). The Stream Power Index (SPI) as a hydro-geomorphic prarameter was calculated following Florinsky (2017). A further parameter used, was the 5-years mean of the annual temperature and the 5-years mean of the annual sum of precipitation. Both values were calculated from daily data based on meteorological observations from weather stations in the surrounding. For inter- and extrapolating the daily mean temperature and the daily sum of precipitation to a 25 × 25 m grid resolution, we employed the fully distributed Water Flow and Balance Simulation Model (WaSiM) version 10.04.07 (Schulla 2021).