Trampling and Spatial Heterogeneity Explain Decomposer Abundances in a Sub-Arctic Grassland Subjected to Simulated Reindeer Grazing

Sørensen, Louise I.; Mikola, Juha; Kytöviita, Minna‐Maarit; Olofsson, Johan

doi:10.1007/s10021-009-9260-6

Cited by 79 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…Summer pads from reindeer, for instance, were shown to promote grass growth in moss tundra vegetation, whilst at the same time reducing moss depth ( . It is important to mention that our study did not account for the eVects of trampling which has been shown enhance nitrogen availability through incorporation of litter (Zacheis et al 2002) and faeces (Sørensen et al 2009) into the soil.…”

Section: Evects Of 'Grazing': Grass Clipping and Nutrient Additionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A range of studies have shown that the moss layer plays an important role in many arctic ecosystems, maintaining moisture from snow melt and buVering soils from extremes of temperature in summer and winter (Gornall et al 2007). In the majority of cases in which herbivores are considered to have signiWcant impacts on arctic ecosystems, damage to the moss or lichen layer is involved, be it through trampling by reindeer (Van der Wal 2006;Sørensen et al 2009), burrowing by rodents (Olofsson et al 2004) or grubbing by geese ( Van der Wal et al 2007;Speed et al 2009). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Herbivore impacts to the moss layer determine tundra ecosystem response to grazing and warming

et al. 2009

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Herbivory and climate are key environmental drivers, shaping ecosystems at high latitudes. Here, we focus on how these two drivers act in concert, influencing the high arctic tundra. We aim to investigate mechanisms through which herbivory by geese influences vegetation and soil processes in tundra ecosystems under ambient and warmed conditions. To achieve this, two grazing treatments, clipping plus faecal additions and moss removal, were implemented in conjunction with passive warming. Our key finding was that, in many cases, the tundra ecosystem response was determined by treatment impacts on the moss layer. Moss removal reduced the remaining moss layer depth by 30% and increased peak grass biomass by 27%. These impacts were probably due to observed higher soil temperatures and decomposition rates associated with moss removal. The positive impact of moss removal on grass biomass was even greater with warming, further supporting this conclusion. In contrast, moss removal reduced dwarf shrub biomass possibly resulting from increased exposure to desiccating winds. An intact moss layer buffered the soil to increased air temperature and as a result there was no response of vascular plant productivity to warming over the course of this study. In fact, moss removal impacts on soil temperature were nearly double those of warming, suggesting that the moss layer is a key component in controlling soil conditions. The moss layer also absorbed nutrients from faeces, promoting moss growth. We conclude that both herbivory and warming influence this high arctic ecosystem but that herbivory is the stronger driver of the two. Disturbance to the moss layer resulted in a shift towards a more grass-dominated system with less abundant mosses and shrubs, a trend that was further enhanced by warming. Thus herbivore impacts to the moss layer are key to understanding arctic ecosystem response to grazing and warming.

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Section: Evects Of 'Grazing': Grass Clipping and Nutrient Additionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Herbivore impacts to the moss layer determine tundra ecosystem response to grazing and warming

et al. 2009

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“…A1 and B1 depict palynomorphs and LOI. A2 and B2 display sample scores for the pollen assemblages and are grouped according to LPAZs reduction of Vaccinium-type pollen to trace values suggests that it may have been severely affected by grazing pressure such as defoliation, trampling and fertilization (Sørensen et al 2009) within the renvall. The relatively small increase in Poaceae and absence of several herbaceous taxa (Caryophyllaceae, Epilobium-type and Melampyrum) that were recorded during the previous (intensive) stage of use for the pen (AKK D-1c), as well as a discontinuous presence of Artemisia and a lack of increase in community diversity, all imply that the impact of reindeer herding during this second, extensive phase was relatively weak.…”

Section: Initiation Of Intensive Clearance and Gathering Of Animals (mentioning

confidence: 99%

High-resolution palynology reveals the land use history of a Sami renvall in northern Sweden

Kamerling

Schofield

Edwards

et al. 2016

Veget Hist Archaeobot

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The limited availability of historical and archaeological evidence means that much is still unknown about the development of Sami reindeer herding in Fennoscandia in both the recent and more distant past. To address this problem, high-resolution palynological analyses, 14 C and 210 Pb dating were undertaken on two adjacent (\25 m apart) peat profiles collected at a recently abandoned reindeer gathering pen (renvall) near Jokkmokk (*66.6°N, 19.8°E) in the boreal forest of northern Sweden. The aim was to assess the impact of Sami reindeer herding on the local environment through a study of pollen, coprophilous fungal spores, microscopic charcoal and sedimentology. The samples collected from within an annex to the renvall indicate cycles of use and abandonment of the pen on a multi-decadal timescale between *AD 1800-2008, most obviously in the coprophilous fungal spore archive. The pattern and timing of these cycles confirm events previously known only from oral histories. Although the local pollen assemblage zones associated with the phasing of activity were reproducible in a second peat core beyond the boundary of the renvall, the coprophilous fungal spore signal in this paired profile was much less distinctive, possibly due to the typically shorter dispersal distances for these microfossils in comparison to pollen grains.

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“…Changes in community composition and environmental variables along a successional gradient have been studied for many years, but until recently it has not been possible to test the relationship between two communities along such a successional gradient and to directly compare this to the relationships with environmental variables. The development of cocorrespondence analysis allows us to do this but we believe only one other study (Sørensen et al 2009) has used this technique to test the relationship between above-and below-ground communities. Sørensen et al (2009) also found that plant community composition was significantly associated with the belowground community, in this case microbial-feeding nematodes; but this study did not compare the plant community with other predictors of the below-ground community such as soil chemical properties.…”

Section: Predictors Of Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Is vegetation composition or soil chemistry the best predictor of the soil microbial community?

Mitchell¹,

Hester²,

Campbell

et al. 2010

Plant Soil

117

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Trampling and Spatial Heterogeneity Explain Decomposer Abundances in a Sub-Arctic Grassland Subjected to Simulated Reindeer Grazing

Cited by 79 publications

References 69 publications

Herbivore impacts to the moss layer determine tundra ecosystem response to grazing and warming

Herbivore impacts to the moss layer determine tundra ecosystem response to grazing and warming

High-resolution palynology reveals the land use history of a Sami renvall in northern Sweden

Is vegetation composition or soil chemistry the best predictor of the soil microbial community?

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