Comparative vegetation survey with focus on cryptogamic covers in the high Arctic along two differing catenas
Although cryptogamic covers are important ecosystem engineers in high Arctic tundra, they were often neglected in vegetation surveys. Hence we conducted a systematic survey of cryptogamic cover and vascular plant coverage and composition at two representative, but differing Arctic sites (Ny-angstrom...
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ftunivgent:oai:archive.ugent.be:8630372 2023-06-11T04:08:37+02:00 Comparative vegetation survey with focus on cryptogamic covers in the high Arctic along two differing catenas Kern, Ramona Hotter, Vivien Frossard, Aline Albrecht, Martin Baum, Christel Tytgat, Bjorn De Maeyer, Lotte Velazquez, David Seppey, Christophe Frey, Beat Plötze, Michael Verleyen, Elie Quesada, Antonio Svenning, Mette M Galaser, Karin Karsten, Ulf 2019 application/pdf https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8630372 http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8630372 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-019-02588-z https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8630372/file/8639534 eng eng https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8630372 http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8630372 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00300-019-02588-z https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8630372/file/8639534 No license (in copyright) info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess POLAR BIOLOGY ISSN: 0722-4060 ISSN: 1432-2056 Biology and Life Sciences Earth and Environmental Sciences Arctic Svalbard Cryptogamic cover Soil Moisture Tundra Vegetation survey BIOLOGICAL SOIL CRUSTS CARBON GEOCHEMISTRY COMMUNITIES SUCCESSION ECOSYSTEM DYNAMICS CLIMATE BIOMASS journalArticle info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2019 ftunivgent https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-019-02588-z 2023-05-10T22:38:35Z Although cryptogamic covers are important ecosystem engineers in high Arctic tundra, they were often neglected in vegetation surveys. Hence we conducted a systematic survey of cryptogamic cover and vascular plant coverage and composition at two representative, but differing Arctic sites (Ny-angstrom lesund, Svalbard) along catenas with a natural soil moisture gradient, and integrated these data with physical-chemical soil properties. Soil samples were taken for comprehensive pedological and mineralogical analyses. Vegetation surveys were conducted based on classification by functional groups. Vascular plants were identified to species level. Correlation and multivariate statistical analysis were applied to determine the key environmental factors explaining vegetation patterns along the soil moisture gradients. We observed significant differences in gravimetric water, soil organic matter and nutrient contents along the moisture gradients. These differences were coincident with a shift in vegetation cover and species composition. While chloro- and cyanolichens were abundant at the drier sites, mosses dominated the wetter and vascular plants the intermediate plots. Twenty four vascular plant species could be identified, of which only six were present at both sites. Cryptogamic covers generally dominated with maximum areal coverage up to 70% and hence should be considered as a new additional syntaxon in future ground-truth and remote sensing based vegetation surveys of Svalbard. Multivariate analysis revealed that soil moisture showed the strongest relation between vegetation patterns, together with NH4-N and pH. In conclusion, soil moisture is a key driver in controlling cryptogamic cover and vegetation coverage and vascular plant species composition in high Arctic tundra. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Polar Biology Svalbard Tundra Ghent University Academic Bibliography Arctic Svalbard Lesund ENVELOPE(8.470,8.470,63.331,63.331) Polar Biology 42 11 2131 2145 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Ghent University Academic Bibliography |
op_collection_id |
ftunivgent |
language |
English |
topic |
Biology and Life Sciences Earth and Environmental Sciences Arctic Svalbard Cryptogamic cover Soil Moisture Tundra Vegetation survey BIOLOGICAL SOIL CRUSTS CARBON GEOCHEMISTRY COMMUNITIES SUCCESSION ECOSYSTEM DYNAMICS CLIMATE BIOMASS |
spellingShingle |
Biology and Life Sciences Earth and Environmental Sciences Arctic Svalbard Cryptogamic cover Soil Moisture Tundra Vegetation survey BIOLOGICAL SOIL CRUSTS CARBON GEOCHEMISTRY COMMUNITIES SUCCESSION ECOSYSTEM DYNAMICS CLIMATE BIOMASS Kern, Ramona Hotter, Vivien Frossard, Aline Albrecht, Martin Baum, Christel Tytgat, Bjorn De Maeyer, Lotte Velazquez, David Seppey, Christophe Frey, Beat Plötze, Michael Verleyen, Elie Quesada, Antonio Svenning, Mette M Galaser, Karin Karsten, Ulf Comparative vegetation survey with focus on cryptogamic covers in the high Arctic along two differing catenas |
topic_facet |
Biology and Life Sciences Earth and Environmental Sciences Arctic Svalbard Cryptogamic cover Soil Moisture Tundra Vegetation survey BIOLOGICAL SOIL CRUSTS CARBON GEOCHEMISTRY COMMUNITIES SUCCESSION ECOSYSTEM DYNAMICS CLIMATE BIOMASS |
description |
Although cryptogamic covers are important ecosystem engineers in high Arctic tundra, they were often neglected in vegetation surveys. Hence we conducted a systematic survey of cryptogamic cover and vascular plant coverage and composition at two representative, but differing Arctic sites (Ny-angstrom lesund, Svalbard) along catenas with a natural soil moisture gradient, and integrated these data with physical-chemical soil properties. Soil samples were taken for comprehensive pedological and mineralogical analyses. Vegetation surveys were conducted based on classification by functional groups. Vascular plants were identified to species level. Correlation and multivariate statistical analysis were applied to determine the key environmental factors explaining vegetation patterns along the soil moisture gradients. We observed significant differences in gravimetric water, soil organic matter and nutrient contents along the moisture gradients. These differences were coincident with a shift in vegetation cover and species composition. While chloro- and cyanolichens were abundant at the drier sites, mosses dominated the wetter and vascular plants the intermediate plots. Twenty four vascular plant species could be identified, of which only six were present at both sites. Cryptogamic covers generally dominated with maximum areal coverage up to 70% and hence should be considered as a new additional syntaxon in future ground-truth and remote sensing based vegetation surveys of Svalbard. Multivariate analysis revealed that soil moisture showed the strongest relation between vegetation patterns, together with NH4-N and pH. In conclusion, soil moisture is a key driver in controlling cryptogamic cover and vegetation coverage and vascular plant species composition in high Arctic tundra. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kern, Ramona Hotter, Vivien Frossard, Aline Albrecht, Martin Baum, Christel Tytgat, Bjorn De Maeyer, Lotte Velazquez, David Seppey, Christophe Frey, Beat Plötze, Michael Verleyen, Elie Quesada, Antonio Svenning, Mette M Galaser, Karin Karsten, Ulf |
author_facet |
Kern, Ramona Hotter, Vivien Frossard, Aline Albrecht, Martin Baum, Christel Tytgat, Bjorn De Maeyer, Lotte Velazquez, David Seppey, Christophe Frey, Beat Plötze, Michael Verleyen, Elie Quesada, Antonio Svenning, Mette M Galaser, Karin Karsten, Ulf |
author_sort |
Kern, Ramona |
title |
Comparative vegetation survey with focus on cryptogamic covers in the high Arctic along two differing catenas |
title_short |
Comparative vegetation survey with focus on cryptogamic covers in the high Arctic along two differing catenas |
title_full |
Comparative vegetation survey with focus on cryptogamic covers in the high Arctic along two differing catenas |
title_fullStr |
Comparative vegetation survey with focus on cryptogamic covers in the high Arctic along two differing catenas |
title_full_unstemmed |
Comparative vegetation survey with focus on cryptogamic covers in the high Arctic along two differing catenas |
title_sort |
comparative vegetation survey with focus on cryptogamic covers in the high arctic along two differing catenas |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8630372 http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8630372 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-019-02588-z https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8630372/file/8639534 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(8.470,8.470,63.331,63.331) |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard Lesund |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard Lesund |
genre |
Arctic Polar Biology Svalbard Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Polar Biology Svalbard Tundra |
op_source |
POLAR BIOLOGY ISSN: 0722-4060 ISSN: 1432-2056 |
op_relation |
https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8630372 http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8630372 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00300-019-02588-z https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8630372/file/8639534 |
op_rights |
No license (in copyright) info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-019-02588-z |
container_title |
Polar Biology |
container_volume |
42 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
2131 |
op_container_end_page |
2145 |
_version_ |
1768381997619609600 |