The effects of grazing and climate warming on plant species in the Faroe Islands

• Main Author: Haraldsstovu, Kolbrún í
• Format: Text
• Language: Swedish; English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Plant ecology; Faroe Islands; Hetta; Føroyar; North Atlantic; Salix herbacea; Silene acaulis
• Online Access: https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/16143/1/haraldsstovu_k_200922.pdf

The Faroe Islands are composed of eighteen small islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. Heavily affected by grazing and harsh weather conditions, the mountaintop vegetation is exposed to multiple environmental pressures. In this project I examined the effects of climate warming and grazing on Faroese plant species. Three different treatments were used; an inside fenced area containing nine plots to exclude grazing, and another ten plots with Open Top Chambers simulating climate warming and finally nine plots outside the fenced area, which are consistently exposed to grazing. Since 2001 high resolution photographs have been taken of the plots, for this study, the years 2007 and 2017 being chosen for comparison. I developed a new method of plant cover estimation for this study involving placing a digital quadrat on each photograph within which the cover of nine different plant species was estimated. The frequency of several plant species was observed to increase over the 10-year period, as well as the overall plant diversity. Exceptions included Euphrasia which showed a negative response to grazing, Salix herbacea and Silene acaulis which were negatively affected by experimental warming, and Ranunculus acris which responded positively to experimental warming. The difference in responses to the environmental pressures examined could be attributed to various reasons; functional plant traits, adaptive resilience and short term vs. to long term responses, amongst others. The continuation of this monitoring study will help connect interactions between the different global drivers of change and resulting effects on plant diversity in a region where climate consequences are largely unknown. Føroyar, eitt lítið oyggjasamfelag, liggja mitt í Norður Atlants havinum. Gróðurin er sera nógv ávirkaður av seyðabiti og sum heild er veðurlagið ógvuliga ábært og vindhart. Hetta merkir at fjallagróðurin í Føroyum er undir nógvum umhvørvisligum trýsti. Í hesari uppgávu vóru ávirkanin av hita og seyðabiti á ...