Impacts of recent paraglacial dynamics on plant colonization: A case study on Midtre Lovénbreen foreland, Spitsbergen (79°N)

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.…”

“…Water from the glacial rivers that flow out mainly in the younger part of the Gåsbreen marginal zone affects the succession process, regularly destroying the first colonisers. Moraine erosion caused by glacial rivers activity has already been analysed in the context of primary succession (Moreau et al 2008). Within strongly eroded regions, younger succession stages are observed in contrast to the same aged but unflooded parts of the moraine (Moreau et al 2008).…”

“…Moraine erosion caused by glacial rivers activity has already been analysed in the context of primary succession (Moreau et al 2008). Within strongly eroded regions, younger succession stages are observed in contrast to the same aged but unflooded parts of the moraine (Moreau et al 2008). Wojtuń et al (2008) also observed the relationship between the substrate type and the occurrence of particular groups of plants, while Kuc (1996) emphasised the preference of lichens for stable substrates.…”

“…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). Cerastium arcticum, Cochlearia groenlandica, Sagina nivalis and Saxifraga cespitosa occur in the younger part (c. 30 years old) of the Midtre Lovénbreen marginal zone (Moreau et al 2008), and also in the younger fragment of the Werenskiöldbreen marginal zone (Wojtuń et al 2008). Although Salix polaris and Silene acaulis are already present in the youngest part of moraines, they reach a high frequency only at the c. 100 years old fragment of the Midtre Lovénbreen (Moreau et al 2008).…”

“…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).…”