revisiting a fen and a bog in Sweden after 50 years
Pedrotti, E. and Rydin, H. and Ingmar, T. and Hytteborn, Håkan and Turunen, P. and Granath, Gustaf
(2014).
Fine-scale dynamics and community stability in boreal peatlands.
Ecosphere. 5
:10
, 1-24
[Journal article]
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/ES14-00202.1
Abstract
Multi-decadal studies of community and ecosystemdynamics are rare; however, this time frame is most relevant for assessing the impact of anthropogenic influences and climate change on ecosystems. For this reason, we investigated changes in vegetation and microtopography over 52 years in two contrasting mire ecosystems, one ombrotrophic (bog) and one minerotrophic (fen), representing different successional stages and contrasting hydrological settings. In both peatlands, floristic composition was recorded in the same permanent plots (n = 55-56, 0.25 m(2)) in both 1960 and 2012 and microtopography was mapped over a large area (ca. 2500 m(2)) that encompassed these same plots. We quantified and compared the community-level changes and internal spatial dynamics, tested associations between pH/microtopography and community/species change, and examined how the area and location of hummock microforms had changed over time. The bog exhibited little site level change in vegetation, where few species changed significantly in cover and plot frequency. However, detailed analyses revealed some large within-plot changes over time in the bog, illustrating that bogs can be highly dynamic systems at a fine scale. In contrast, the rich fen experienced a clear directional change; specifically, bryophyte abundance decreased by 70% and brown mosses were almost extinct. Although pH had decreased over time at the rich fen, this decrease at the plot-level was not associated with the decline of brown moss abundance. The microtopographic structure did not change substantially at the bog where similar to 70% was covered by lawn/hummocks; however, in the rich fen hummocks expanded (from 10% to 16% cover) and moved or expanded down slope. Our study suggests, that at the site-level, the bog ecosystem was more resistant to environmental changes over time compared to the rich fen, as evidenced by shifts in vegetation and microtopography. The contrasting scales of vegetation dynamics observed within a bog (i.e., within-plot changes vs. site-level) indicate that plant-environment feedbacks contribute to the peatland level stability. While in rich fens, internal feedbacks may be weaker and the ecosystem's vegetation and microtopographic structure are vulnerable to shifting hydrological fluxes.
Authors/Creators: | Pedrotti, E. and Rydin, H. and Ingmar, T. and Hytteborn, Håkan and Turunen, P. and Granath, Gustaf | ||||||
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Title: | Fine-scale dynamics and community stability in boreal peatlands | ||||||
Subtitle: | revisiting a fen and a bog in Sweden after 50 years | ||||||
Series/Journal: | Ecosphere (2150-8925) | ||||||
Year of publishing : | 2014 | ||||||
Volume: | 5 | ||||||
Number: | 10 | ||||||
Page range: | 1-24 | ||||||
Number of Pages: | 24 | ||||||
Publisher: | Ecological Society of America | ||||||
ISSN: | 2150-8925 | ||||||
Language: | English | ||||||
Publication Type: | Journal article | ||||||
Refereed: | Yes | ||||||
Article category: | Scientific peer reviewed | ||||||
Version: | Published version | ||||||
Full Text Status: | Public | ||||||
Agris subject categories.: | F Plant production > F40 Plant ecology | ||||||
Subjects: | (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 106 Biological Sciences (Medical to be 3 and Agricultural to be 4) > Botany (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 106 Biological Sciences (Medical to be 3 and Agricultural to be 4) > Ecology | ||||||
Agrovoc terms: | Biodiversity, Boreal forests, Peatlands, Sphagnum | ||||||
Keywords: | beta diversity, boreal, microtopography, peatland development, plant population and community dynamics, Sphagnum, succession, vegetation change | ||||||
URN:NBN: | urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-e-2370 | ||||||
Permanent URL: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-e-2370 | ||||||
Additional ID: |
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ID Code: | 11778 | ||||||
Faculty: | NJ - Fakulteten för naturresurser och jordbruksvetenskap | ||||||
Department: | (NL, NJ) > Dept. of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment | ||||||
Deposited By: | SLUpub Connector | ||||||
Deposited On: | 05 Feb 2015 08:41 | ||||||
Metadata Last Modified: | 09 Sep 2020 14:17 |
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