Macquarie Island: A wind‐molded natural landscape in the subantarctic

Abstract

Abstract The two dominant environmental factors on Macquarie Island are the constantly low temperatures and the high wind velocities. The low temperatures represent the overall limiting factor for the vegetation as a whole, while exposure to wind determines the distribution of the vegetation types and of small‐scale geomorphological features. A hard cushion formation (feldmark) occupies most of the exposed plateau area. With decreasing exposure the hard cushions are replaced by herbfields, bogs or ferns, depending on the height of the water table. The coastal areas, which are generally less exposed, are covered by a Poa foliosa grassland. While the macro‐relief of the island is largely glacial in origin the micro‐relief of the slopes is the product of past and recent periglacial solifluction and its interrelationship with vegetation development. While exposed slopes exhibit a high degree of slope mobility lee slopes are much more stable and are characterized by large, stable terraces. The latter are consi...