Analysis of plant colonization on an arctic moraine since the end of the Little Ice Age using remotely sensed data and a Bayesian approach

Vegetation diversity and selected abiotic factors influencing the primary succession process on the foreland of Gåsbreen, Svalbard

“…2) and composition of early and late coloniser groups (Table 2) on the Gåsbreen foreland are similar to other glacier moraines of Spitsbergen. Vascular plants and bryophytes appear first, while lichens enter later, when the substrate is more stable (Moreau et al 2005(Moreau et al , 2008. Similarly, differentiation of succession stages (Fig.…”

“…Similarly, differentiation of succession stages (Fig. 2) is an effect not only of the substrate age but also of its morphology and microhabitat conditions (Cannone et al 2004;Moreau et al 2005Moreau et al , 2009. Saxifraga oppositifolia is the dominant species in deglaciated areas, both in the north (Hodkinson et al 2003;Moreau et al 2005) and in the south of Spitsbergen (Pirożnikow and Górniak 1992;Wojtuń et al 2008).…”

“…Measurements from north-western (e.g. Moreau et al 2005) and southern Spitsbergen (e.g. Ziaja and Ostafin 2007;Ziaja et al 2016a) indicate the intensification of the recession process from the 1980s onwards.…”

“…Since the 1980s, a number of studies has been conducted on glacier forelands on the north-western coast of Spitsbergen, near Ny-Ålesund (Brossard 1985;Moreau et al 2008). A significant proportion of the world's latest research related to primary succession on glacier marginal zones is based on this area and covers a variety of topics, including plant communities evolution (Hodkinson et al 2003;Moreau et al 2005;Moreau et al 2008), pioneering species , species ecology (Nakatsubo et al 2005;Uchida et al 2006;Yoshitake et al 2007), and the role of soil microorganisms (Bekku 2004), including mycorrhizal fungi . Apart from the Ny-Ålesund region, research has been conducted on the western coast of Spitsbergen (Tishkov 1986), in central Spitsbergen (Ziaja and Dubiel 1996;Prach and Rachlewicz 2012), and in southern Spitsbergen (Kuc 1964;Fabiszewski 1975;Pirożnikow and Górniak 1992;Wojtuń et al 2008).…”

“…In the case of bryophytes, only Kuc (1996) included specific names of species inhabiting glacier forelands. Regarding lichens, in studies conducted near Ny-Ålesund, only large fruticose terrestrial lichenised fungi, such as Cetrariella delisei, were taken into account (Hodkinson et al 2003;Moreau et al 2005), and from the total group of bryophytes only Sanionia uncinata and Polytrichaceae were noted (Moreau et al 2005). Only large terrestrial lichens (Cladonia mitis, Cetraria spp.…”