Changes in Soil Composition and Floral Coverage on a Glacial Foreland Chronosequence in Southern Iceland

Tanner, Lawrence H.; Walker, Ann E.; Nivison, Morgan; Smith, David L.

doi:10.4236/ojss.2013.34022

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The author intentionally avoided sampling in the topographic low areas (e.g., abandoned melt-water stream channels) and admitted that many of the sample locations were subjected to a microclimate bias from the shelter afforded by proximity to the rock cliff that borders the glacial foreland (and the glacier) to the west. More recent studies have compared soil composition (carbon and nitrogen content) and vegetative cover at different distances from the ice front (Tanner et al 2013;Vilmundardóttir et al 2015a) and the ecology of the soil organisms and their relationship to primary successional processes (van Leeuwen et al 2018).…”

Section: Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nine sites for measurement were selected from a larger set of sites on the Skaftafellsjökull foreland where soil properties were studied previously (Tanner et al 2013). The sites were chosen to represent locations at varying distances from the ice front, as a proxy for age, and to examine differences in local topography (e.g., five sites on moraines, one site in a channel swale, and three sites on the outwash plain).…”

Section: Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Subsequent studies on various glacial forelands on Svalbard focused largely on the contribution of cyanobacterial colonization during the pioneer stage in raising nutrient status prior to vascular plant colonization (Liengen and Olsen 1997;Liengen 1999;Hodkinson et al 2003;Zielke et al 2005). Previous investigations of the Skaftafellsj kull foreland found that the nitrogen content in the top 10 cm of soils ranged from < 0.1% at sites more proximal to the ice front to values mainly in the range of 0.1% to 0.2% (maximum 0.26%) at the more distal sites (Tanner et al 2013;Vilmundardóttir et al 2015a). Therefore, advanced successional stages did not correlate greatly with soil nitrogen availability, similar to the findings of Robbins and Matthews (2014).…”

Section: Role Of Facilitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Successional trends and processes on a glacial foreland in Southern Iceland studied by repeated species counts

Glausen

Tanner

2019

Ecol Process

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Introduction: Primary succession on glacial forelands is increasingly relevant as rapid glacial retreat is exposing growing land areas to plant colonization. We investigated temporal trends, controls, and outcomes in floral succession on a subarctic glacial foreland. Specifically, we examined changes in community composition (mosses, low shrubs, forbs, trees, and graminoids) over long-term (decadal) and short-term (< 10 years) scales and attempted to identify the underlying processes responsible for the observed successional patterns. Methods: The study area was the foreland of the Skaftafellsjӧkull, located in Vatnajӧkull National Park near the south coast of Iceland. We established nine transect lines at varying distances from the ice front representing surfaces of age ranging from less than one decade to over 100 years. Each transect consisted of five measurement stations of 1 m 2 where we measured vegetative cover (VC), species richness (SR), and species density (SD) and calculated species evenness (SE). Measurements were made initially in 2007 and repeated at the same geographic coordinates in 2014. Results: VC increased with distance from the ice front from 16% to over 90%. SR and SD increased from the youngest pioneer community through a mid-successional stage corresponding to an age of over 60 but less than 100 years. Increased VC but declining SR, SD, and SE characterized the oldest (over 100 years) bryophyte-dominated surfaces. Species turnover, which involved forbs almost exclusively, increased moderately from early through midsuccessional sites and declined on older sites. Comparison of the measurements made in 2014 to those made in 2007 demonstrates increased SR at mid-successional sites while SD remained relatively constant. Conclusion: At a small scale, colonization is controlled by local factors such as microtopography and aspect, particularly in proximity to the glacier. At the landscape level, changes in VC and community structure are controlled by time and nutrient availability. Low nutrient levels and limited site availability favor bryophyte dominance on the oldest surfaces. The greatest community-level changes observed over the 7-year interval were increases in surface cover by mosses and low shrubs, particularly in mid-successional and older sites. These changes suggest that the community on the oldest surfaces has not yet reached equilibrium.

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Section: Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Role Of Facilitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Successional trends and processes on a glacial foreland in Southern Iceland studied by repeated species counts

Glausen

Tanner

2019

Ecol Process

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“…Campbell and Claridge, 1982;Matsuoka et al, 1990), as they strongly influence freeze-thaw cycles (Henry, 2007), frost shattering (Lautridou and Ozouf, 1982) and glacial advances or retreats (Cook et al, 2005). These factors also affect edaphic processes, which are spatially very variable (Tanner et al, 2013), as well as geomorphological activity (Oliva and Ruiz-Fernández, 2017). Other authors have noted the great differences in soil properties that can be generated by the presence of seabirds and seals, which disturb the soil by trampling and by input of organic compounds in their droppings, which can accumulate to form guano and favour establishment of vegetation (Brimble et al, 2009;Otero et al, 2015b;Ugolini, 1972).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biota and geomorphic processes as key environmental factors controlling soil formation at Elephant Point, Maritime Antarctica

et al. 2017

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We examined the main soil forming factors affecting the soil composition, soil properties and the associated soilforming processes at Elephant Point, a small ice-free environment in the South Shetland Islands, Maritime Antarctica. For this purpose, we collected twenty soil samples from each of ten different sites distributed along a linear transect running from the coast to the front of the Rotch Dome glacier. The samples were obtained from surface layers (0-10 cm) and at depth (40-50 cm), although collection was limited in the moraine area by the permafrost table. We determined pH, electrical conductivity, size particle distribution, total organic carbon, total nitrogen and total concentrations of Al, Fe, Ca and P, for physical and chemical characterization of the samples. We also analysed the samples to determine the bioavailability of nutrients and Fe, Al and P partitioning and finally examined them by isotopic (δ 15 N) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The results of the analyses revealed two clear geochemical environments corresponding to the two most extensive geomorphological units in this peninsula: moraine and marine terraces. Soils from the moraine were characterized by alkaline reaction and high quantity of minerals with a low degree of crystallinity, whereas soils from the marine terraces showed acid reaction, high concentration of organometallic complexes and a high diversity of phosphate minerals (taranakite, minyulite, struvite, hydroxylapatite and leucophosphite), which seem to be generated by phosphatization of faecal matter deposited by seabirds and seals. Consequently, biota activity is the most relevant soil differentiating factor in the marine terraces, which add organic matter and activate geochemical cycles. On the other hand, geomorphic processes strongly affected by physical weathering processes such as glacial abrasion (by grinding process), frost shattering, and wind abrasion are the main soil-forming factors in moraine. These forces break up the parent material, transform it and translocate the products formed.

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“…Soil C content increased with succession, typical for both forelands (Hodkinson et al 2003;Nakatsubo et al 2005;Tanner et al 2013) and circles (Walker et al 2008). The presence of soil C in young overburden might be attributable to preglacial organic matter that dominates soil C in soils !50 years old in an Austrian foreland (Bardgett et al 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Multicentury Evidence for Dispersal Limitation during Primary Succession

Makoto

Wilson

2016

The American Naturalist

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Online enhancements: appendix. Dryad data: http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.85j01.abstract: Primary succession is limited by both ecosystem development and plant dispersal, but the extent to which dispersal constrains succession over the long-term is unknown. We compared primary succession along two co-occurring arctic chronosequences with contrasting spatial scales: sorted circles that span a few meters and may have few dispersal constraints and glacial forelands that span several kilometers and may have greater dispersal constraints. Dispersal constraints slowed primary succession by centuries: plots were dominated by cryptogams after 20 years on circles but after 270 years on forelands; plots supported deciduous plants after 100 years on circles but after 1400 years on forelands. Our study provides centuryscale evidence suggesting that dispersal limitations constrain the rate of primary succession in glacial forelands.

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Changes in Soil Composition and Floral Coverage on a Glacial Foreland Chronosequence in Southern Iceland

Cited by 9 publications

References 16 publications

Successional trends and processes on a glacial foreland in Southern Iceland studied by repeated species counts

Successional trends and processes on a glacial foreland in Southern Iceland studied by repeated species counts

Biota and geomorphic processes as key environmental factors controlling soil formation at Elephant Point, Maritime Antarctica

New Multicentury Evidence for Dispersal Limitation during Primary Succession

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