Influence of cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo colony on biometrical parameters of three-nerved sandwort Moehringia trinervia (Caryophyllaceae) leaves and seeds

Abstract

Żółkoś K., Meissner W.: Influence of cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo colony on biometrical parameters of three-nerved sandwort Moehringia trinervia (Caryophyllaceae) leaves and seeds. Ekológia

Variability of polar scurvygrass Cochlearia groenlandica individual traits along a seabird influenced gradient across Spitsbergen tundra

“…Individual variability can be influenced by several environmental factors such as nutrient availability (Wookey et al 1994;Fonseca et al 2000;Rubio et al 2003;Trubat et al 2006;Morgner and Pettersen 2007;Meissner 2008, 2010;Khoreva and Mochalova 2009), water content (Meškauskait_ e and Naujalis 2006; Trubat et al 2006), altitude (Taguchi and Wada 2001), light (Bragg andWestoby 2002), wind (Niklas 1996) or grazing (Semmartin and Ghersa 2006). However, there are very few detailed quantitative studies of any specific plant species responses to gradients of seabird influence (but see Zmudczyńska et al 2008;_ Zółkoś et al 2008_ Zółkoś et al , 2010. Our first research on this subject concerned the variability of alpine saxifrage Saxifraga nivalis L. along the gradient of soil and tundra variability induced by a seabird colony (Zmudczyńska et al 2008).…”

Changes inKhasi pine (Pinus kesiyaRoyle exGordon) tree stands affected byDimorphicEgretEgretta dimorphacolony atMadagascar

“…Sobey & Kenworthy, ; Ishida, ; Ligeza & Smal, ). Enrichment of the substrate in nutrients causes transformation in the structure of plant communities and increase in the proportion of nitrophilous species and plants of a wide ecological spectrum (Sobey & Kenworthy, ; Bukaciński, Rutkowska & Bukacińska, ; Mun, ; Żółkoś & Meissner, , ). We observed such phenomena in the colony we studied; thus, we can assume that soil fertility increased in the effect of guano deposition, which caused changes in the species composition and in the vertical structure of the plant community.…”

“…Breeding colonies of birds change the whole ecosystem, including the biotope, and the structure and floristic composition of the occupied phytocoenoses. The rate and the quality of changes depend mostly on the species of breeding birds, the size of their local population and the age and density of the colony (Sobey & Kenworthy, ; Maesako, ; Ishida, ; Mun, ; García et al ., ; Żółkoś & Meissner, , ).…”

“…The influence of bird colonies on soil and plants at sea and oceanic islands and coasts where no forests grow has been well described in different regions of the world (Breslina & Karpovich, ; Sobey & Kenworthy, ; Hogg & Morton, ; Hogg, Morton & Venn, ; Paradis & Larenzoni, ; Norton et al ., ; Vidal et al ., ; Abbot, Marchant & Cranfield, ; Mulder & Keall, ). Despite birds' breeding colonies on trees are common, a few papers discuss the effect of colonial nesting on forest ecosystems (Maesako, ; Ishida, ; Mun, ; Żółkoś & Meissner, , ). Transformations of plant community that take place under the effect of bird colonies were studied so far only in cold and temperate climates (Ellis, ).…”

“…To our knowledge, only a few studies described response of different plant species to overfertilization caused by bird colonies. These studies analysed the content of different elements in leaves of selected plant species growing in breeding colonies (Smith, ; García et al ., ) or the size of leaves and the production of seeds (Zmudczyńska et al ., ; Żółkoś & Meissner, , ).…”