Ornithogenic vegetation: How significant has the seabird influence been on the Aleutian Island vegetation during the Holocene?

• Published in: Ecology and Evolution
• Main Authors: Smyshlyaeva, Olesya Igorevna, Severova, Elena Erastovna, Krylovich, Olga Aleksandrovna, Kuzmicheva, Evgeniya Andreevna, Savinetsky, Arkady Borisovich, Dixie, West, Hatfield, Virginia
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021
• Subjects: Research Articles; Guano; Near Islands; Shemya Island; Aleutian Island; Tundra; Aleutian Islands
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8525163/; https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8121

In the Aleutian Islands during the Holocene, terrestrial predators were actually absent; as a result, large seabird colonies thrived along the coasts or across entire islands. Bird guano enriches the soil with nitrogen, which can lead to the formation of highly modified ornithogenic (bird‐formed) ec...