Abstract
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-Ålesund, 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.
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08 October 2019
This correction stands to the correct a spelling error to contributor name: Karin Glaser. The author group and the publisher wish all to recognize the name as Karin Glaser and not the former. The original article has been corrected.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the staff at the AWIPEW station, Ny-Ålesund for excellent technical and logistic support during the summer campaign 2017.
Funding
This study was funded through the 2015–2016 BiodivERsA COFUND call for research proposals, with the national funders of Belgium (BELSPO BR/175/A1/CLIMARCTIC-BE), Germany (DFG KA899/33–1), Norway (The Research Council of Norway 270252/E50), Spain (MINECO, PCIN2016-001, CTM2016-79741), and Switzerland (SNSF 31BD30_172464).
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RK, VH, AF, BT, DV, CS, BF, EV, AQ, MS, KG, and UK all contributed to the study design as well as sample and data collection during the joint summer expedition 2017 in Ny-Ålesund. MA, CB, MP, AF, and LDM analyzed samples for specific parameters. RK, VH, KG, and UK undertook all statistical analysis. RK, VH, and UK wrote the first version of the manuscript with contributions from all co-authors.
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Fig. 8.1-8.18. Digital photographs of the 18 permanent sampling plots showing the dominant vegetation. K: Knudsenheia; O:Ossian-Sarsfjellet; K1.1-K1.3: dry plots; K2.1-K2.3: intermediate plots; K3.1-K3.3: wet plots; O1.1-O1.3: dry plots; O2.1-O2.3: intermediate plots; O3.1-O3.3: wet plots; Fig. 9. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) plot visualizes the similarity and dissimilarity of the vascular plant diversity in Knudsenheia (KH) and Ossian-Sarsfjellet (OS) at different plots (d-dry, i-intermediate, w-wet). The black arrows indicate the influence direction of the only three significantly correlated soil parameters: ammonium, pH, sand content and moisture. Ellipses correspond to 95% confidence interval. Stress = 0.17. Supplementary file1 (PDF 11356 kb)
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Kern, R., Hotter, V., Frossard, A. et al. Comparative vegetation survey with focus on cryptogamic covers in the high Arctic along two differing catenas. Polar Biol 42, 2131–2145 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-019-02588-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-019-02588-z