Plant and Vegetation Dynamics on Disko Island Wes

Authors: Terry V Callaghan Torben R Christensen Elin J Jantze

Publish Date: 2011/08/24

Volume: 40, Issue: 6, Pages: 624-

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Abstract

We report on a revisit in 2009 to sites where vegetation was recorded in 1967 and 1970 on Disko Island West Greenland Resampling of the same clones of the grass Phleum alpinum after 39 years showed complete stability in biometrics but dramatic earlier onset of various phenological stages that were not related to changes in population density In a fellfield community there was a net species loss but in a herbslope community species losses balanced those that were gained The type of species establishing and increasing in frequency and/or cover abundance at the fellfield site particularly prostrate dwarf shrubs indicates a possible start of a shift towards a heath rather than a fellfield community At the herbslope site those species that established or increased markedly in frequency and/or cover abundance indicate a change to drier conditions This is confirmed both by the decrease in abundance of Alchemilla glomerulans and Epilobium hornemanii and the drying of a nearby pond The causes of these changes are unknown although mean annual temperature has risen since 1984This study formed part of the IPY project ‘Back to the Future’ http//wwwbtfutepedu/ and the authors are grateful to our colleagues Professor Pat Webber and Dr Craig Tweedie for collaboration in the establishment of this project Dr Thomas Bjoernebo Berg kindly helped with arrangements for the field visit and we would like to thank the Arctic Station for welcoming us and providing facilities Of course the project would have been impossible without the formative studies of the others who established the IBP Tundra Biome BiPolar Botanical Project—Dr SW Greene Mrs DM Greene and Dr MC Lewis all now deceased and Dr GCS Clarke and B Philipps The project was financed by a grant from the Swedish Research Council Vetenskapsrådet 3272007833 as part of the International project ‘Retrospective and prospective vegetation change in the polar regions Back to the Future’ Project BTF IPY Project number ID No 512

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