A foundation of ecology rediscovered: 100 years of succession on the William S. Cooper plots in Glacier Bay, Alaska
Abstract Understanding plant community succession is one of the original pursuits of ecology, forming some of the earliest theoretical frameworks in the field. Much of this was built on the long‐term research of William S. Cooper, who established a permanent plot network in Glacier Bay, Alaska, in 1...
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crwiley:10.1002/ecy.1848 2024-06-23T07:52:59+00:00 A foundation of ecology rediscovered: 100 years of succession on the William S. Cooper plots in Glacier Bay, Alaska Buma, Brian Bisbing, Sarah Krapek, John Wright, Glenn National Geographic Society 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecy.1848 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fecy.1848 https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ecy.1848 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Ecology volume 98, issue 6, page 1513-1523 ISSN 0012-9658 1939-9170 journal-article 2017 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.1848 2024-06-06T04:23:54Z Abstract Understanding plant community succession is one of the original pursuits of ecology, forming some of the earliest theoretical frameworks in the field. Much of this was built on the long‐term research of William S. Cooper, who established a permanent plot network in Glacier Bay, Alaska, in 1916. This study now represents the longest‐running primary succession plot network in the world. Permanent plots are useful for their ability to follow mechanistic change through time without assumptions inherent in space‐for‐time (chronosequence) designs. After 100‐yr, these plots show surprising variety in species composition, soil characteristics (carbon, nitrogen, depth), and percent cover, attributable to variation in initial vegetation establishment first noted by Cooper in the 1916–1923 time period, partially driven by dispersal limitations. There has been almost a complete community composition replacement over the century and general species richness increase, but the effective number of species has declined significantly due to dominance of Salix species which established 100‐yr prior (the only remaining species from the original cohort). Where Salix dominates, there is no establishment of “later” successional species like Picea . Plots nearer the entrance to Glacier Bay, and thus closer to potential seed sources after the most recent glaciation, have had consistently higher species richness for 100 yr. Age of plots is the best predictor of soil N content and C:N ratio, though plots still dominated by Salix had lower overall N; soil accumulation was more associated with dominant species. This highlights the importance of contingency and dispersal in community development. The 100‐yr record of these plots, including species composition, spatial relationships, cover, and observed interactions between species provides a powerful view of long‐term primary succession. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Alaska Wiley Online Library Glacier Bay Ecology 98 6 1513 1523 |
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English |
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Abstract Understanding plant community succession is one of the original pursuits of ecology, forming some of the earliest theoretical frameworks in the field. Much of this was built on the long‐term research of William S. Cooper, who established a permanent plot network in Glacier Bay, Alaska, in 1916. This study now represents the longest‐running primary succession plot network in the world. Permanent plots are useful for their ability to follow mechanistic change through time without assumptions inherent in space‐for‐time (chronosequence) designs. After 100‐yr, these plots show surprising variety in species composition, soil characteristics (carbon, nitrogen, depth), and percent cover, attributable to variation in initial vegetation establishment first noted by Cooper in the 1916–1923 time period, partially driven by dispersal limitations. There has been almost a complete community composition replacement over the century and general species richness increase, but the effective number of species has declined significantly due to dominance of Salix species which established 100‐yr prior (the only remaining species from the original cohort). Where Salix dominates, there is no establishment of “later” successional species like Picea . Plots nearer the entrance to Glacier Bay, and thus closer to potential seed sources after the most recent glaciation, have had consistently higher species richness for 100 yr. Age of plots is the best predictor of soil N content and C:N ratio, though plots still dominated by Salix had lower overall N; soil accumulation was more associated with dominant species. This highlights the importance of contingency and dispersal in community development. The 100‐yr record of these plots, including species composition, spatial relationships, cover, and observed interactions between species provides a powerful view of long‐term primary succession. |
author2 |
National Geographic Society |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Buma, Brian Bisbing, Sarah Krapek, John Wright, Glenn |
spellingShingle |
Buma, Brian Bisbing, Sarah Krapek, John Wright, Glenn A foundation of ecology rediscovered: 100 years of succession on the William S. Cooper plots in Glacier Bay, Alaska |
author_facet |
Buma, Brian Bisbing, Sarah Krapek, John Wright, Glenn |
author_sort |
Buma, Brian |
title |
A foundation of ecology rediscovered: 100 years of succession on the William S. Cooper plots in Glacier Bay, Alaska |
title_short |
A foundation of ecology rediscovered: 100 years of succession on the William S. Cooper plots in Glacier Bay, Alaska |
title_full |
A foundation of ecology rediscovered: 100 years of succession on the William S. Cooper plots in Glacier Bay, Alaska |
title_fullStr |
A foundation of ecology rediscovered: 100 years of succession on the William S. Cooper plots in Glacier Bay, Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
A foundation of ecology rediscovered: 100 years of succession on the William S. Cooper plots in Glacier Bay, Alaska |
title_sort |
foundation of ecology rediscovered: 100 years of succession on the william s. cooper plots in glacier bay, alaska |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecy.1848 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fecy.1848 https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ecy.1848 |
geographic |
Glacier Bay |
geographic_facet |
Glacier Bay |
genre |
glacier Alaska |
genre_facet |
glacier Alaska |
op_source |
Ecology volume 98, issue 6, page 1513-1523 ISSN 0012-9658 1939-9170 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.1848 |
container_title |
Ecology |
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98 |
container_issue |
6 |
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1513 |
op_container_end_page |
1523 |
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1802644455922073600 |