Numer and type of seeds introduced by footwear of travelers to Svalbard and germination success in 2008 ...

• Main Authors: Ware, Chris, Bergstrom, Dana Michelle, Müller, Eike, Alsos, Inger Greve
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2012
• Subjects: Multiple investigations; International Polar Year 2007-2008 IPY; Arctic Archipelago; International Polar Year; IPY; Svalbard
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.840829; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.840829

Expanding visitation to Polar regions combined with climate warming increases the potential for alien species introduction and establishment. We quantified vascular plant propagule pressure associated with different groups of travelers to the high-Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, and evaluated the potential of introduced seeds to germinate under the most favorable average Svalbard soil temperature (10°C). We sampled the footwear of 259 travelers arriving by air to Svalbard during the summer of 2008, recording 1,019 seeds: a mean of 3.9 (±0.8) seeds per traveler. Assuming the seed influx is representative for the whole year, we estimate a yearly seed load of around 270,000 by this vector alone. Seeds of 53 species were identified from 17 families, with Poaceae having both highest diversity and number of seeds. Eight of the families identified are among those most invasive worldwide, while the majority of the species identified were non-native to Svalbard. The number of seeds was highest on footwear that had ... : Data extracted in the frame of a joint ICSTI/PANGAEA IPY effort, see http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.150150 ...