The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1930, Síða 135

STUDIES ON THE VEGETATION OF ICELAND
125
These 7 zones may be pointed out without difficulty wherever
the ground does not slope too steepljc As soon as the ground be-
comes more rugged and uneven, irregularities in the distribution
of the /ones may be observed. One or more zones will not be
developed; thus moist mýri may be observed to adjoin high mo
without the interinediate zones having attained development. The
interrelationship of the zones can, however, be confirmed wherever
the mo, or the mýri, is the dominant feature of the landscape. In
liollowTs in the mo the jaðar will always be the first type of vegeta-
lion to be met with, and with the progressive size and depth of
the depression the other types will follow' in the above-described se-
quence. Wherever an elevation occurs in the mýri, the types of
vegetation will succeed each other from the edge of the mýri to the
summit of the elevation in the same regular wTay in conformity to
lawr. These conditions are repeated again and again in every part
of the island.
Table 26 showrs the distribution of the life-forms and the spe-
cies-groups in relation to the scale of moisture in the various series
of investigations. The Roman numerals I—VII correspond to the
7 zones of moisture mentioned above.
Life Forms. Their Distribution in Uelation to the
Scale of Moisture.
In a previous chapter (pp. 13—33) the influence of the climate
on the prevalence of species-groups and life-forms in the flora was
subjected to a more detailed investigation. As far as the life-forms
were concerned Ch proved of special interest by the close correlation
hetween the rise in the Ch percentage and the severity of the cli-
mate. Passing round the coast from South Iceland bjr wray of
wrestern and northern Iceland to East Iceland, the Ch percentage
showred a continuous rise, and passing from the level of the sea
towrards the snow-line, the same was the case, only in even greater
degree. The same was the case with the A percentage.
The statistical investigations of the formations confirm this.
Thus, if we compare the Ch percentage of the Elyna mo at Bjork,
the formation in the southern lowlands which is most arctic in
character, with the melar at Lækjamót, the most pronounced arctic
formation in the north country (botli localities at a height of c. 100 m.),
we shall see that in the former case the Ch percentage is 28, in