Journalartikel

Jahr der Veröffentlichung: 2010

Seiten: 952-963

Zeitschrift: Oikos

Bandnummer: 119

Heftnummer: 6

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2009.18094.x

Verlag: Wiley

Abstract: 

Following disturbance events vegetation can either be resilient and
return to its original state, or there can be shifts in vegetation
composition and abundance patterns that may indicate alternative
equilibiria. We conducted a long‐term field experiment that simulated
impact by aerially transported volcanic ejecta (tephra) in a Sphagnum‐dominated
plant community in order to test the effects of this type of
large‐scale disturbance. Sixty plots of 1.4 × 1.4 m were established at
Sarobetsu mire in northern Hokkaido, Japan and subjected to seven
treatments (including the control) with natural tephra or ground glass
shards differing in grain size, layer thickness and season of
application. Water chemistry and vegetation were surveyed before tephra
application and during five and eight years after the perturbation,
respectively. Leaching of ions from fine‐grained glass shards caused a
sustained increase of soil water pH and electric conductivity. Under
coarser materials water quality differed little from the control, but a
short‐lived peak of potassium suggested that mechanisms like nutrient
release from decomposing plant material may influence water chemistry
after volcanic disturbance. The perturbation initially reduced the cover
of the dominant functional group (Sphagnum mosses) in all
treatments; vascular plants were less affected. All species were able to
recover by growing through the tephra, and open tephra surfaces were
colonized by ubiquitous cryptogams, but not by spermatophytes. In
contrast to the overall resilient behaviour of the vegetation, in some
plots that received natural tephra an alternative state with high cover
of the dwarf shrub Myrica gale developed. The patterns indicated
that physical and chemical properties of the tephra determined the
initial effects on plants, but that stochastic processes contributed to
subsequent succession. These are likely to have effects on ecosystem
functioning, e.g. hydrological processes and carbon sequestration.

Harvard-Zitierstil: Hotes, S., Grootjans, A., Takahashi, H., Ekschmitt, K. and Poschlod, P. (2010) Resilience and alternative equilibria in a mire plant community after experimental disturbance by volcanic ash, Oikos, 119(6), pp. 952-963. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2009.18094.x

APA-Zitierstil: Hotes, S., Grootjans, A., Takahashi, H., Ekschmitt, K., & Poschlod, P. (2010). Resilience and alternative equilibria in a mire plant community after experimental disturbance by volcanic ash. Oikos. 119(6), 952-963. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2009.18094.x