New Multicentury Evidence for Dispersal Limitation during Primary Succession

• Published in: The American Naturalist
• Main Authors: Kobayashi, Makoto, Wilson, Scott D.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Chicago Press
• Subjects: arctic; biomass; ecosystem development; foreland; glacier; growth form; soil C; sorted circle; 470; Arctic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2115/65888; https://doi.org/10.1086/686199

Primary succession is limited by both ecosystem development and plant dispersal, but the extent to which dispersal constrains succession over the long-term is unknown. We compared primary succession along two co-occurring arctic chronosequences with contrasting spatial scales: sorted circles that span a few meters and may have few dispersal constraints and glacial forelands that span several kilometers and may have greater dispersal constraints. Dispersal constraints slowed primary succession by centuries: plots were dominated by cryptogams after 20 years on circles but after 270 years on forelands; plots supported deciduous plants after 100 years on circles but after >400 years on forelands. Our study provides century-scale evidence suggesting that dispersal limitations constrain the rate of primary succession in glacial forelands.