Journal
AMERICAN NATURALIST
Volume 187, Issue 6, Pages 804-811Publisher
UNIV CHICAGO PRESS
DOI: 10.1086/686199
Keywords
arctic; biomass; ecosystem development; foreland; glacier; growth form; soil C; sorted circle
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Funding
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
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Primary succession is limited by both ecosystem development and plant dispersal, but the extent to which dispersal constrains succession over the long-term is unknown. We compared primary succession along two co-occurring arctic chronosequences with contrasting spatial scales: sorted circles that span a few meters and may have few dispersal constraints and glacial forelands that span several kilometers and may have greater dispersal constraints. Dispersal constraints slowed primary succession by centuries: plots were dominated by cryptogams after 20 years on circles but after 270 years on forelands; plots supported deciduous plants after 100 years on circles but after >400 years on forelands. Our study provides century-scale evidence suggesting that dispersal limitations constrain the rate of primary succession in glacial forelands.
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