Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T11:35:29.822Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Primary succession of lichen and bryophyte communities following glacial recession on Signy Island, South Orkney Islands, Maritime Antarctic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2012

Sergio E. Favero-Longo ,
M. Roger Worland ,
Peter Convey ,
Ronald I. Lewis Smith ,
Rosanna Piervittori ,
Mauro Guglielmin  and
Nicoletta Cannone
Sergio E. Favero-Longo*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università degli Studi di Torino, V. le Mattioli 25, 10125 Torino, Italy
M. Roger Worland
Affiliation:
British Antarctic Survey, NERC, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK
Peter Convey
Affiliation:
British Antarctic Survey, NERC, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK
Ronald I. Lewis Smith
Affiliation:
Centre for Antarctic Plant Ecology and Diversity, Moffat, DG10 9LB, UK
Rosanna Piervittori
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università degli Studi di Torino, V. le Mattioli 25, 10125 Torino, Italy
Mauro Guglielmin
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia Strutturale e Funzionale, Università dell'Insubria, V. Dunant 3, 21100 Varese, Italy
Nicoletta Cannone
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e Ambientali, Università dell'Insubria, V. Valleggio 11, 22100 Como, Italy
*
[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A directional primary succession with moderate species replacement was quantitatively characterized on Signy Island in zones of a glacial valley corresponding to their age since deglaciation. A continuous increase in diversity and abundance of lichens and bryophytes was observed between terrains deglaciated in the late 20th century, to areas where deglaciation followed the Little Ice Age, and others thought to be ice-free since soon after the Last Glacial Maximum. Classification (UPGMA) and ordination (principal co-ordinate analysis) of vegetation data identified three different stages of development: a) pioneer communities, which rapidly develop in a few decades, b) immature communities developing on three to four century old terrains, and c) a climax stage (Polytrichum strictum-Chorisodontium aciphyllum community) developing on the oldest terrains, but only where local-scale environmental features are more favourable. Multivariate analysis including environmental parameters (canonical correspondence analysis) indicated terrain age as being the dominant controlling factor, with other environmental factors also exhibiting significant conditional effects (duration of snow cover, surface stoniness). These findings not only quantitatively verify reports of the rapid colonization of Maritime Antarctic terrains following recent climate amelioration and associated decrease in glacial extent, but also show how local-scale environmental resistance may slow or even prevent vegetation succession from pioneer to more mature stages in future.

Keywords

chronosequenceclimate changedeglaciationglacier forelandpioneer colonizationspecies replacement
Type
Biological Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , 17 July 2012 , pp. 323 - 336
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bednarek-Ochyra, H., Váňa, J., Ochyra, R.Lewis Smith, R.I. 2000. The liverwort flora of Antarctica. Cracow: Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Botany: 236 pp.Google Scholar
Cannone, N.Gerdol, R. 2003. Vegetation as an ecological indicator of surface instability in rock glaciers. Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research, 35, 384–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cannone, N.Guglielmin, M. 2003. Vegetation and permafrost: sensitive systems for the development of a monitoring program of climate change along an Antarctic transect. In Huiskes, A.H.L., Gieskes, W.W.C., Rozema, J., Schorno, R.M.L., van Der Vies, S.M. & Wolff, W.J.,eds. Antarctic biology in a global context. Leiden: Backhuys, 31–36.Google Scholar
Cannone, N., Guglielmin, M.Gerdol, R. 2004. Relationships between vegetation patterns and periglacial landforms in northwestern Svalbard. Polar Biology, 27, 562–571.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Convey, P.Smith, R.I.L. 2006. Responses of terrestrial Antarctic ecosystems to climate change. Plant Ecology, 182, 1–10.Google Scholar
Corner, R.W.M.Smith, R.I.L. 1973. Botanical evidence of ice recession in the Argentine Islands. British Antarctic Survey Bulletin, No. 35, 83–86.Google Scholar
Fahselt, D., Maycock, P.F.Svoboda, J. 1988. Initial establishment of saxicolous lichens following recent glacial recession in Sverdrup Pass, Ellesmere Island, Canada. Lichenologist, 20, 253–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Favero-Longo, S.E., Cannone, N., Worland, M.R., Convey, P., Piervittori, R.Guglielmin, M. 2011. Changes in lichen diversity and community structure with fur seal population increase on Signy Island, South Orkney Islands. Antarctic Science, 23, 65–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenton, J.H.C. 1982. Vegetation re-exposed after burial by ice and its relationship to changing climate in the South Orkney Islands. British Antarctic Survey Bulletin, No. 51, 247–255.Google Scholar
Fowbert, J.A.Smith, R.I.L. 1994. Rapid population increases in native vascular plants in the Argentine Islands, Antarctic Peninsula. Arctic and Alpine Research, 26, 290–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frenot, Y., Gloaguen, J.C., Cannavacciuolo, M.Bellido, A. 1998. Primary succession on glacier foreland in the sub-Antarctic Iles Kerguelen. Journal of Vegetation Science, 9, 75–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Golledge, N.R., Everest, J.D., Bradwell, T.Johnson, J.S. 2010. Lichenometry on Adelaide Island, Antarctic Peninsula: size frequency studies, growth rates and snowpatches. Geografiska Annaler, 92, 111–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guglielmin, M., Boschi, D., D'Agata, C., Ellis-Evans, C.Worland, M.R. 2008. Periglacial and permafrost map of Signy Island, South Orkney Islands, Maritime Antarctic. Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Permafrost, 29 June–3 July 2008. Fairbanks: Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska, 569–573.Google Scholar
Harrison, S., Ross, S.J.Lawton, J.H. 1992. Beta diversity on geographic gradient in Britain. Journal of Animal Ecology, 61, 151–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, G.A.Henry, G.H.R. 2003. Primary plant succession on recently deglaciated terrain in the Canadian High Arctic. Journal of Biogeography, 30, 277–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, V.J., Hodgson, D.A.Chepstow-Lusty, A. 2000. Paleolimnological evidence for marked Holocene environmental changes on Signy Island, Antarctica. The Holocene, 10, 43–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kozeretska, I.A., Parnikoza, I.Yu., Mustafa, O., Tyschenko, O.V., Korsun, S.G.Convey, P. 2010. Development of Antarctic herb tundra vegetation near Arctowski Station, King George Island. Polar Science, 3, 254–261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis Smith, R.I. 2000. Plant colonization on a 45-year sequence of annual micromoraines on a South Georgia glacier foreland. In Davison, W., Howard Williams, C. & Broady, P.,eds. Antarctic ecosystems: models for wider ecological understanding. Christchurch: The Caxton Press, 225–232.Google Scholar
Lindsay, D.C. 1978. The role of lichens in Antarctic ecosystems. Bryologist, 81, 268–276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, W.A. 1996. Aerial dispersal of lichen soredia in the Maritime Antarctic. New Phytologist, 134, 523–530.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matthews, J.A. 1999. Disturbance regimes and ecosystem response on recently-deglaciated substrates. In Walker, L.R.,ed. Ecosystems of disturbed ground. New York: Elsevier, 17–37.Google Scholar
Melick, D.R.Seppelt, R.D. 1997. Vegetation patterns in relation to climatic and endogenous changes in Wilkes Land, continental Antarctica. Journal of Ecology, 85, 43–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ochyra, R., Lewis Smith, R.I.Bednarek-Ochyra, H. 2008. The illustrated moss flora of Antarctica. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 704 pp.Google Scholar
Okitsu, S., Minami, Y.Kanda, H. 1998. Relationships between plant occurrences and surface conditions on a recently deglaciated moraine at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, Arctic Norway. Proceedings of the NIPR Symposium on Polar Biology, 11, 119–127.Google Scholar
Øvstedal, D.O.Lewis Smith, R.I. 2001. Lichens of Antarctica and South Georgia. A guide to their identification and ecology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 411 pp.Google Scholar
Podani, J. 2001. SYN-TAX 2000. Computer programs for data analysis in ecology and systematics. User's manual. Budapest: Scientia Publishing, 53 pp.Google Scholar
Sancho, L.G.Pintado, A. 2004. Evidence of high annual growth rate for lichens in the Maritime Antarctic. Polar Biology, 27, 312–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sancho, L.G.Valladares, F. 1993. Lichen colonization of recent moraines on Livingston Island (South Shetland Is., Antarctica). Polar Biology, 13, 227–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sedel'nikova, N.V.Sedel'nikov, V.P. 2009. The role of lichens in high-mountain phytocenosis of Siberia. Contemporary Problems in Ecology, 2, 586–592.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, R.I.L. 1972. Vegetation of the South Orkney Islands with particular reference to Signy Island. British Antarctic Survey Scientific Reports, No. 68, 124 pp.Google Scholar
Smith, R.I.L. 1982. Plant succession and re-exposed moss banks on a deglaciated headland in Arthur Harbour, Anvers Island. British Antarctic Survey Bulletin, No. 51, 193–199.Google Scholar
Smith, R.I.L. 1988. Destruction of Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems by a rapidly increasing fur seal population. Biological Conservation, 45, 55–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, R.I.L. 1990. Signy Island as a paradigm of biological and environmental change in Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems. In Kerry, K.R. & Hempel, G., eds. Antarctic ecosystems: ecological change and conservation. Berlin: Springer, 32–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, R.I.L. 1994. Vascular plants as bioindicators of regional warming in Antarctica. Oecologia, 99, 322–328.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, R.I.L. 1995. Colonization by lichens and the development of lichen dominated communities in the Maritime Antarctic. Lichenologist, 27, 473–483.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, R.I.L. 1996. Terrestrial and freshwater biotic components of the western Antarctic Peninsula. Foundations for ecological research west of the Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctic Research Series, 70, 15–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, R.I.L. 2007. Half a continent in a square kilometre: the exceptional lichen diversity of a small Antarctic island. Bibliotheca Lichenologica, 95, 387–403.Google Scholar
Svoboda, J.Henry, G.H.R. 1987. Succession in marginal Arctic environments. Arctic and Alpine Research, 19, 373–384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ter Braak, C.J.F.Šmilauer, P. 2002. CANOCO reference manual and CanoDraw for Windows user's guide: software for canonical community ordination (version 4.5). Ithaca, NY: Microcomputer Power, 500 pp.Google Scholar
Ter Braak, C.J.F.Verdonschot, P.F.M. 1995. Canonical correspondence analysis and related multivariate methods in aquatic ecology. Aquatic Science, 57, 255–264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tishkov, R.J. 1986. Primary succession in Arctic tundra on the west coast of Spitsbergen (Svalbard). Polar Geography and Geology, 10, 148–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valladares, F.Sancho, L.G. 1995. Lichen colonization and recolonization of two recently deglaciated zones in the Maritime Antarctic. Lichenologist, 27, 485–493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Will-Wolf, S., Scheidegger, C.McCune, B. 2002. Methods for monitoring biodiversity and ecosystem function. In Nimis, P.L., Scheidegger, C. & Wolseley, P.A., eds. Monitoring with lichens - monitoring lichens. NATO Science Series IV: Earth and Environmental Sciences, vol. 7. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 147–162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Favero longo supplementary material

Appendix 1

Download Favero longo supplementary material(File)
File 68.6 KB
Supplementary material: File

Favero longo supplementary material

Appendix 2

Download Favero longo supplementary material(File)
File 150 KB