Importance of Marine-Derived Nutrients Supplied by Planktivorous Seabirds to High Arctic Tundra Plant Communities.
We studied the relative importance of several environmental factors for tundra plant communities in five locations across Svalbard (High Arctic) that differed in geographical location, oceanographic and climatic influence, and soil characteristics. The amount of marine-derived nitrogen in the soil s...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:c7ff5e0f3190473db08bd0f31053ba42 2023-05-15T14:48:12+02:00 Importance of Marine-Derived Nutrients Supplied by Planktivorous Seabirds to High Arctic Tundra Plant Communities. Adrian Zwolicki Katarzyna Zmudczyńska-Skarbek Pierre Richard Lech Stempniewicz 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0154950 https://doaj.org/article/c7ff5e0f3190473db08bd0f31053ba42 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4858296?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0154950 https://doaj.org/article/c7ff5e0f3190473db08bd0f31053ba42 PLoS ONE, Vol 11, Iss 5, p e0154950 (2016) Medicine R Science Q article 2016 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0154950 2022-12-31T00:11:17Z We studied the relative importance of several environmental factors for tundra plant communities in five locations across Svalbard (High Arctic) that differed in geographical location, oceanographic and climatic influence, and soil characteristics. The amount of marine-derived nitrogen in the soil supplied by seabirds was locally the most important of the studied environmental factors influencing the tundra plant community. We found a strong positive correlation between δ15N isotopic values and total N content in the soil, confirming the fundamental role of marine-derived matter to the generally nutrient-poor Arctic tundra ecosystem. We also recorded a strong correlation between the δ15N values of soil and of the tissues of vascular plants and mosses, but not of lichens. The relationship between soil δ15N values and vascular plant cover was linear. In the case of mosses, the percentage ground cover reached maximum around a soil δ 15N value of 8‰, as did plant community diversity. This soil δ15N value clearly separated the occurrence of plants with low nitrogen tolerance (e.g. Salix polaris) from those predominating on high N content soils (e.g. Cerastium arcticum, Poa alpina). Large colonies of planktivorous little auks have a great influence on Arctic tundra vegetation, either through enhancing plant abundance or in shaping plant community composition at a local scale. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Cerastium arcticum Poa alpina Salix polaris Svalbard Tundra Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Svalbard PLOS ONE 11 5 e0154950 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
spellingShingle |
Medicine R Science Q Adrian Zwolicki Katarzyna Zmudczyńska-Skarbek Pierre Richard Lech Stempniewicz Importance of Marine-Derived Nutrients Supplied by Planktivorous Seabirds to High Arctic Tundra Plant Communities. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
We studied the relative importance of several environmental factors for tundra plant communities in five locations across Svalbard (High Arctic) that differed in geographical location, oceanographic and climatic influence, and soil characteristics. The amount of marine-derived nitrogen in the soil supplied by seabirds was locally the most important of the studied environmental factors influencing the tundra plant community. We found a strong positive correlation between δ15N isotopic values and total N content in the soil, confirming the fundamental role of marine-derived matter to the generally nutrient-poor Arctic tundra ecosystem. We also recorded a strong correlation between the δ15N values of soil and of the tissues of vascular plants and mosses, but not of lichens. The relationship between soil δ15N values and vascular plant cover was linear. In the case of mosses, the percentage ground cover reached maximum around a soil δ 15N value of 8‰, as did plant community diversity. This soil δ15N value clearly separated the occurrence of plants with low nitrogen tolerance (e.g. Salix polaris) from those predominating on high N content soils (e.g. Cerastium arcticum, Poa alpina). Large colonies of planktivorous little auks have a great influence on Arctic tundra vegetation, either through enhancing plant abundance or in shaping plant community composition at a local scale. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Adrian Zwolicki Katarzyna Zmudczyńska-Skarbek Pierre Richard Lech Stempniewicz |
author_facet |
Adrian Zwolicki Katarzyna Zmudczyńska-Skarbek Pierre Richard Lech Stempniewicz |
author_sort |
Adrian Zwolicki |
title |
Importance of Marine-Derived Nutrients Supplied by Planktivorous Seabirds to High Arctic Tundra Plant Communities. |
title_short |
Importance of Marine-Derived Nutrients Supplied by Planktivorous Seabirds to High Arctic Tundra Plant Communities. |
title_full |
Importance of Marine-Derived Nutrients Supplied by Planktivorous Seabirds to High Arctic Tundra Plant Communities. |
title_fullStr |
Importance of Marine-Derived Nutrients Supplied by Planktivorous Seabirds to High Arctic Tundra Plant Communities. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Importance of Marine-Derived Nutrients Supplied by Planktivorous Seabirds to High Arctic Tundra Plant Communities. |
title_sort |
importance of marine-derived nutrients supplied by planktivorous seabirds to high arctic tundra plant communities. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0154950 https://doaj.org/article/c7ff5e0f3190473db08bd0f31053ba42 |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Cerastium arcticum Poa alpina Salix polaris Svalbard Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Cerastium arcticum Poa alpina Salix polaris Svalbard Tundra |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 11, Iss 5, p e0154950 (2016) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4858296?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0154950 https://doaj.org/article/c7ff5e0f3190473db08bd0f31053ba42 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0154950 |
container_title |
PLOS ONE |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
e0154950 |
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1766319306371497984 |