Soft resilience: moisture-dependent lichen elasticity buffer herbivore trampling in cold alpine-tundra ecosystems
Abstract Herbivores may have extensive top-down effects in open grazing ecosystems, generating vegetation changes by grazing and trampling. Trampling effects are understudied, but may be a major ecological factor. In cold alpine-Arctic ecosystems grazing and trampling by wild tundra reindeer ( Rangi...
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Springer Science and Business Media LLC
2020
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02685-4 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00300-020-02685-4.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-020-02685-4/fulltext.html |
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crspringernat:10.1007/s00300-020-02685-4 2023-05-15T15:07:59+02:00 Soft resilience: moisture-dependent lichen elasticity buffer herbivore trampling in cold alpine-tundra ecosystems Heggenes, Jan Fagertun, Christian Odland, Arvid Bjerketvedt, Dag K. 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02685-4 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00300-020-02685-4.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-020-02685-4/fulltext.html en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Polar Biology volume 43, issue 7, page 789-799 ISSN 0722-4060 1432-2056 General Agricultural and Biological Sciences journal-article 2020 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02685-4 2022-01-04T11:30:28Z Abstract Herbivores may have extensive top-down effects in open grazing ecosystems, generating vegetation changes by grazing and trampling. Trampling effects are understudied, but may be a major ecological factor. In cold alpine-Arctic ecosystems grazing and trampling by wild tundra reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus ) may be particularly important in lichen-dominated heaths. Dry lichen are crushed by trampling, and it is estimated that volume loss of lichen trampled may be considerably larger than lichen volume eaten by reindeer. Humidity affects lichen pliability and elasticity, and thereby resilience to trampling. Although crucial for estimating lichen vegetation trampling loss, the relationship between humidity and lichen elasticity is not well known. We collected samples of three lichen species in natura and in factorial experiments tested effects of species, levels of humidity (25, 70, 80, 90 and 100% RH) and temperatures (5 and 25 °C), on resilience to trampling (pressure resistance). The humidity:species interaction was the strongest factor increasing pressure resilience with increasing humidity, whereas temperature had small or no effects. Lichen elasticity increased rapidly above 70% RH. Consequently, when estimating lichen resources and potential trampling loss, number of dry days (less than 70% RH) should be estimated. This also has important ramifications for effects of climate change on the sustainability of reindeer populations. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change Polar Biology Rangifer tarandus Tundra Springer Nature (via Crossref) Arctic Polar Biology 43 7 789 799 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences |
spellingShingle |
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences Heggenes, Jan Fagertun, Christian Odland, Arvid Bjerketvedt, Dag K. Soft resilience: moisture-dependent lichen elasticity buffer herbivore trampling in cold alpine-tundra ecosystems |
topic_facet |
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences |
description |
Abstract Herbivores may have extensive top-down effects in open grazing ecosystems, generating vegetation changes by grazing and trampling. Trampling effects are understudied, but may be a major ecological factor. In cold alpine-Arctic ecosystems grazing and trampling by wild tundra reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus ) may be particularly important in lichen-dominated heaths. Dry lichen are crushed by trampling, and it is estimated that volume loss of lichen trampled may be considerably larger than lichen volume eaten by reindeer. Humidity affects lichen pliability and elasticity, and thereby resilience to trampling. Although crucial for estimating lichen vegetation trampling loss, the relationship between humidity and lichen elasticity is not well known. We collected samples of three lichen species in natura and in factorial experiments tested effects of species, levels of humidity (25, 70, 80, 90 and 100% RH) and temperatures (5 and 25 °C), on resilience to trampling (pressure resistance). The humidity:species interaction was the strongest factor increasing pressure resilience with increasing humidity, whereas temperature had small or no effects. Lichen elasticity increased rapidly above 70% RH. Consequently, when estimating lichen resources and potential trampling loss, number of dry days (less than 70% RH) should be estimated. This also has important ramifications for effects of climate change on the sustainability of reindeer populations. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Heggenes, Jan Fagertun, Christian Odland, Arvid Bjerketvedt, Dag K. |
author_facet |
Heggenes, Jan Fagertun, Christian Odland, Arvid Bjerketvedt, Dag K. |
author_sort |
Heggenes, Jan |
title |
Soft resilience: moisture-dependent lichen elasticity buffer herbivore trampling in cold alpine-tundra ecosystems |
title_short |
Soft resilience: moisture-dependent lichen elasticity buffer herbivore trampling in cold alpine-tundra ecosystems |
title_full |
Soft resilience: moisture-dependent lichen elasticity buffer herbivore trampling in cold alpine-tundra ecosystems |
title_fullStr |
Soft resilience: moisture-dependent lichen elasticity buffer herbivore trampling in cold alpine-tundra ecosystems |
title_full_unstemmed |
Soft resilience: moisture-dependent lichen elasticity buffer herbivore trampling in cold alpine-tundra ecosystems |
title_sort |
soft resilience: moisture-dependent lichen elasticity buffer herbivore trampling in cold alpine-tundra ecosystems |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02685-4 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00300-020-02685-4.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-020-02685-4/fulltext.html |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Climate change Polar Biology Rangifer tarandus Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change Polar Biology Rangifer tarandus Tundra |
op_source |
Polar Biology volume 43, issue 7, page 789-799 ISSN 0722-4060 1432-2056 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02685-4 |
container_title |
Polar Biology |
container_volume |
43 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
789 |
op_container_end_page |
799 |
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1766339418517405696 |