Glacier Forelands: Lessons of Plant Population and Community Development

Erschbamer, Brigitta; Caccianiga, Marco

doi:10.1007/124_2016_4

Cited by 33 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…5). To some degree, the trend line for species numbers displays a negative logarithmic behaviour, indicating a kind of saturation in species establishment during succession, most likely due to inter- and intraspecific competition 22,28,29 . Also, the trend line for ground cover shows this effect towards the older sites.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Data analyses applied standard uni- and multivariate statistical procedures. As primary succession in glacier forelands commonly starts with simple agglomerations of plants and subsequently becomes more and more complex 22,28,29,44 , a quantitative assessment of the vegetation development during succession after glacier retreat is achieved by recording changes in species numbers, ground cover (of singular species and in total) as well as lifeform composition at different temporal stages. Temporal trends of changing ground cover and species numbers are derived by non-linear regressions.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Vegetation dynamics in Alpine glacier forelands tackled from space

Fischer

Fickert

Schwaizer

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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Monitoring of plant succession in glacier forelands has so far been restricted to field sampling. In this study, in situ vegetation sampling along a chronosequence between Little Ice Age (LIA) maximum extent and the recent glacier terminus at Jamtalferner in the Austrian Alps is compared to time series of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) calculated from 13 Landsat scenes (1985–2016). The glacier terminus positions at 16 dates between the LIA maximum and 2015 were analysed from historical maps, orthophotos and LiDAR images. We sampled plots of different ages since deglaciation, from very recent to approx. 150 years: after 100 years, roughly 80% of the ground is covered by plants and ground cover does not increase significantly thereafter. The number of species increases from 10–20 species on young sites to 40–50 species after 100 years. The NDVI increases with the time of exposure from a mean of 0.11 for 1985–1991 to 0.20 in 2009 and 0.27 in 2016. As the increase in ground cover is clearly reproduced by the NDVI (R² ground cover/NDVI 0.84) – even for sparsely vegetated areas –, we see a great potential of satellite-borne NDVI to perform regional characterizations of glacier forelands for hydrological, ecological and hazard management-related applications.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vegetation dynamics in Alpine glacier forelands tackled from space

Fischer

Fickert

Schwaizer

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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“…Seedling recruitment is a highly risky developmental stage in nival-alpine environments (Stöcklin and Bäumler 1996;Erschbamer et al 2008;Marcante et al 2009;Erschbamer and Caccianiga 2017). Therefore, high germination rates are mandatory for alpine plants to persist or migrate.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pros and cons of using a standard protocol to test germination of alpine species

et al. 2020

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Storing seeds in seed banks is an effective way to preserve plant diversity and conserve species. An essential step towards a valuable conservation is the validation of germination. This study presents a germination screening of seeds from 255 species of the European Eastern Alps, which were to be stored at the Millennium Seed Bank (Kew, UK). The final germination percentage (FGP) was determined using a standard protocol in the laboratory. Species were classified according to species rarity, plant community, occurrence at elevation belts, bedrock types, as well as CSR strategies, and further, seed mass was examined. We could not find statistically significant differences of FGP within these classes, but 74.9% of all tested species germinated using the standard protocol, and half of them had FGP ≥ 20.1–100%. A treatment with gibberellic acid enhanced the germination in half of the species to which this treatment was applied. Common families in alpine regions, i.e. Asteraceae, Poaceae and Saxifragaceae were highlighted in terms of their germination behaviour. The results provide an evaluation of the application of standard protocols to a broad Alpine species pool on the one hand, and on the other hand, provide ecological insights of the species tested. Germination is not only one of the most important events of the reproductive cycle of plants but could also be a key feature in species' responses to changing environmental conditions.

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“…Depending on soil depth, the results for RTD and SRL presented an ambiguous picture. In the topsoil of the youngest moraines (30 a, 80 a), the comparatively high values of SRL and the tendency for low RTD values reflect a fast water and nutrient uptake strategy of early colonizers (Caccianiga et al 2006;Erschbamer and Caccianiga 2017). In contrast, species of late successional communities seem to invest more biomass into strengthening root tissues.…”

Section: Functional Root Traits Along the Chronosequencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although pioneer species must deal with high abiotic stress levels, such as low nutrients, extreme temperatures, and high ultraviolet radiation levels, vegetation cover and aboveground biomass are increasing quickly and a fully vegetated surface is normally observed after a few centuries (Matthews 1992;Walker and Del Moral 2003;Erschbamer and Caccianiga 2017). During succession in alpine glacier forelands, not only do cover and biomass change quickly but species composition does, too (Matthews and Whittaker 1987;Chapin et al 1994;Raffl and Erschbamer 2004;Raffl et al 2006;Matthews 2009, 2010;Burga et al 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vertical root distribution and biomass allocation along proglacial chronosequences in Central Switzerland

Greinwald

Dieckmann

Schipplick

et al. 2021

Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research

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Investigating changes in belowground functional plant traits is an important step toward a better understanding of vegetation dynamics during primary succession. However, in alpine glacier forelands, we still lack an accurate assessment of plant rooting patterns. In this study, we established two proglacial chronosequences with contrasting bedrocks to investigate changes in rooting patterns and biomass allocation with terrain age. We extracted soil cores up to 1 m depth and measured root traits every 10 cm of each drilled core. Furthermore, we sampled aboveground biomass determining the contributions of functional groups to total aboveground biomass. We found that root traits associated with the root economics spectrum varied significantly along the chronosequences. Vertical root distribution coefficients revealed that early successional communities had more evenly distributed root systems compared to late successional communities. Biomass allocation showed diverging patterns. We found evidence for both the isometric allocation and optimal partitioning hypotheses. In addition, we observed a significant correlation between rooting parameters and plant community composition, suggesting that the dominance of distinct plant functional groups was one important factor explaining the observed rooting patterns. Our results shed light on the often neglected belowground compartments during plant succession and contribute to a better understanding of hillslope functioning.

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Glacier Forelands: Lessons of Plant Population and Community Development

Cited by 33 publications

References 74 publications

Vegetation dynamics in Alpine glacier forelands tackled from space

Vegetation dynamics in Alpine glacier forelands tackled from space

Pros and cons of using a standard protocol to test germination of alpine species

Vertical root distribution and biomass allocation along proglacial chronosequences in Central Switzerland

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