Vegetation

This chapter consists of a survey of the higher forest, and the non-forest plant communities on Mt. Jaya. The field work for this project was undertaken during the first CGE and was generally integrated with the floristic reconnaissance and pollen analytical field work. The vegetation of Mt. Jaya was assessed in terms of the Mt. Wilhelm associations, and apparent similarities and differences form the basis for the discrimination of the communities on Mt. Jaya. The subalpine and alpine vegetation of Mt. Jaya and other New Guinea mountains resembles that of the moist equatorial Andes and to a lesser extent that of the high east African peaks. However the zone of tall, pachycaulous shrubs of these areas is absent in New Guinea although the upper limit of closed subalpine forest is approximately the same. The vegetation of Mt. Jaya occupies one of the most quasioceanic, thermally equable and dependably moist, high equatorial mountains in the world.