Between ice and ocean; soil development along an age chronosequence formed by the retreating Breiðamerkurjökull glacier, SE-Iceland

Vilmundardóttir, Olga Kolbrún; Gísladóttir, Guðrún; Lal, Rattan

doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2015.06.016

Cited by 30 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…We detected an increase in diversity of first month of flowering and a decrease in community mean lateral spread with time, factors that may reflect improvement of environmental conditions during succession (Vilmundardóttir et al. , b) and accumulation of species over time. Furthermore, trait convergence in mycorrhizal association, with a marginal increase in the proportion of mycorrhizal species occurred.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Multiple mechanisms of early plant community assembly with stochasticity driving the process

Marteinsdóttir

Svavarsdóttir²,

Thórhallsdóttir

2017

Ecology

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Abstract. Initial plant establishment is one of the most critical phases in ecosystem development, where an early suite of physical (environmental filtering), biological (seed limitation, species interactions) and stochastic factors may affect successional trajectories and rates. While functional traits are commonly used to study processes that influence plant community assembly in late successional communities, few studies have applied them to primary succession. The objective here was to determine the importance of these factors in shaping early plant community assembly on a glacial outwash plain, Skeiðararsandur, in SE Iceland using a trait based approach. We used data on vascular plant assemblages at two different spatial scales (community and neighborhood) sampled in 2005 and 2012, and compiled a dataset on seven functional traits linked to species dispersal abilities, establishment, and persistence for all species within these assemblages. Trait-based null model analyses were used to determine the processes that influenced plant community assembly from the regional species pool into local communities, and to determine if the importance of these processes in community assembly was dependent on local environment or changed with time. On the community scale, for most traits, random processes dominated the assembly from the regional species pool. However, in some communities, there was evidence of non-random assembly in relation to traits linked to species dispersal abilities, persistence, and establishment. On the neighborhood scale, assembly was mostly random. The relative importance of different processes varied spatially and temporally and the variation was linked to local soil conditions. While stochasticity dominated assembly patterns of our early successional communities, there was evidence of both seed limitation and environmental filtering. Our results indicated that as soil conditions improved, environmental constraints on assembly became weaker and the assembly became more dependent on species availability.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Multiple mechanisms of early plant community assembly with stochasticity driving the process

Marteinsdóttir

Svavarsdóttir²,

Thórhallsdóttir

2017

Ecology

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“…In contrast to C and N, bulk density decreased with time since deglaciation and increased with soil depth as found in previous studies (e.g., Schrumpf et al, 2011). Similarly, other studies have reported a decrease in bulk density with time since deglaciation and an increase with soil depth, with accumulation of organic matter, the start of parent material alteration, increase in ion exchange capacity and the formation of weathering products (Egli et al, 2006;Bernasconi et al, 2011;Vilmundardóttir et al, 2015).…”

Section: Organic Carbon and Nitrogen Contentsupporting

confidence: 73%

“…A number of these studies found a clear increase in the flux parameters with increasing ecosystem age, and advocated that to the increasing vegetation cover and plant productivity, the organic status (biomass, C and N) increasing after recent deglaciation chronosequences in the Alps (Matthews, 1993;Egli et al, 2001;Burga et al, 2009;D'Amico et al, 2014;Li et al, 2018), and high arctic regions (Nakatsubo et al, 1998;Bekku et al, 2004;Nakatsubo et al, 2005;Yoshitake et al, 2011). Further, these studies pointed out that the organic matter increased mainly within the uppermost part of the soil profile, and decreased with increasing depth, whilst, bulk density decreased with time since deglaciation (Egli et al, 2001;Pei-qin et al, 2005;Egli et al, 2006;Kabala & Zapart, 2012;Vilmundardóttir et al, 2015;. However, Wietrzyk et al (2018) highlighted that vegetation cover is the main factor which affects soil properties during primary succession.…”

Section: The Linkage Between Soil and Vegetation Evolution And The Obmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Supplemental Information 3: Light Response Curves Original Data

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Background The glaciers in the Alps, as in other high mountain ranges and boreal zones, are generally retreating and leaving a wide surface of bare ground free from ice cover. This early stage soil is then colonized by microbes and vegetation in a process of primary succession. It is rarely experimentally examined whether this colonization process is linear or not at the ecosystem scale.Thus, to improve our understanding of the variables involved in the carbon accumulation in the different stages of primary succession, we conducted this research in three transects on the Matsch glacier forefield (Alps, N Italy) at an altitude between 2350 and 2800 m a.s.l. MethodsIn three field campaigns (July, August and September 2014) a closed transparent chamber was used to quantify the net ecosystem exchange (NEE) between the natural vegetation and the atmosphere. On the five plots established in each of the three transects, shading nets were used to determine ecosystem response function to variable light conditions. Ecosystem respiration (Reco) and gross ecosystem exchange (GEE) was partitioned from NEE. Following the final flux measurements, biometric sampling was conducted to establish soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) content and the biomass components for each transect.PeerJ Preprints | https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.27703v1 | CC BY 4.0 Open Access | recResults. A clear difference was found between the earlier and the later successional stage. The older successional stages in the lower altitudes acted as a stronger C sink, where NEE, GEE, andReco were significantly higher than in the earlier successional stage. Of the two lower transects, the sink capacity of intermediate-succession plots exceeded that of the plots of older formation, in spite of the more developed soil. Total biomass (above-and belowground) approached its maximum value in the intermediate ecosystem. Whilst, the later stage of succession predominated in the corresponding belowground organic mass (biomass, N and C).Outlook. We found that the process of carbon accumulation along a glacier retreat chronosequence is not linear, and after a quite rapid increase in carbon accumulation capacity in the first 150 years, in average 9 g C m -2 y -1 , it slows down, taking place mainly in the belowground biomass components. Concurrently, the photosynthetic capacity peaks in the intermediate stage of ecosystem development. If confirmed by further studies on a larger scale, this study would provide evidence for a predominant effect of plant physiology over soil physical characteristics in the green-up phase after glacier retreat, which has to be taken into account in the creation of scenarios related to climate change and future land use.

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“…immediately above the tephra, and the relatively low occurrence of pioneer species such as grasses and herbs, characteristic of young moraines and proglacial plains in Iceland today (Persson ; Vilmundardóttir et al . , , b). The pollen and macrofossil records suggest that the vegetation around the lake was a combination of Betula nana–Salix sp.…”

Section: Holocene Environmental Dynamics At Barðalækjartjörnmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is suggested by the presence of dwarf shrubs such as Betula nana and Salix sp. immediately above the tephra, and the relatively low occurrence of pioneer species such as grasses and herbs, characteristic of young moraines and proglacial plains in Iceland today (Persson 1964;Vilmundard ottir et al 2014Vilmundard ottir et al , 2015a. The pollen and macrofossil records suggest that the vegetation around the lake was a combination of Betula nana-Salix sp.-Juniperus communis dwarf shrub heath, wetlands and rocky/sandy surfaces.…”

Section: Holocene Environmental Dynamics At Barðalaekjartj€ Ornmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change and human impact in a sensitive ecosystem: the Holocene environment of the Northwest Icelandic highland margin

Eddudóttir

Erlendsson

Tinganelli

et al. 2016

Boreas

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Complex interactions of climate and volcanic activity have shaped the environment of Iceland during the Holocene. Palaeoecological records from Iceland offer a unique look at a Holocene environment that was uninhabited by humans and free of mammal herbivores until about AD 870. We present a new reconstruction of Holocene vegetation and landscape dynamics from a small lake, Barðalækjartjörn, located near the highland margin in Northwest Iceland. A multi‐proxy approach was used to reconstruct vegetation based on pollen and plant macrofossil analysis and landscape stability based on lithological proxies. The record covers the period c. 10 300–200 cal. a BP. For the first two millennia aeolian processes probably played a part in vegetation development. This period is characterized by high input of minerogenic material into the lake and a vegetation assemblage in which plants tolerant of aeolian deposition are prominent. Betula pubescens woodland reached a maximum between c. 7400 and 6500 cal. a BP. Betula nana‐dominated dwarf shrub heath replaced woodland after c. 4000 cal. a BP, following the onset of Neoglaciation. Land use following human settlement caused an environmental shift at the highland margin. Betula pubescens probably disappeared from the vicinity of the lake soon thereafter. Large‐scale soil erosion began at c. 1000 cal. a BP in the wake of human activities, such as introduction of grazing livestock and woodcutting. This study offers an important long‐term perspective of the development of the highland ecosystem under both wholly natural and human‐influenced conditions.

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Between ice and ocean; soil development along an age chronosequence formed by the retreating Breiðamerkurjökull glacier, SE-Iceland

Cited by 30 publications

References 42 publications

Multiple mechanisms of early plant community assembly with stochasticity driving the process

Multiple mechanisms of early plant community assembly with stochasticity driving the process

Untitled

Climate change and human impact in a sensitive ecosystem: the Holocene environment of the Northwest Icelandic highland margin

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