ausblenden:
Schlagwörter:
Soil chemistry
Alkalinization
Vegetation changes
Manipulation experiment
Zusammenfassung:
Antarctica is the last pristine environment on Earth, its biota being adapted to the harsh and extreme polar
climate. Until now, soil formation and vegetation development in continental Antarctica were considered very
slow due to the extreme conditions of this polar desert. Since the austral summer 2002/2003, a long-term
monitoring network of the terrestrial ecosystems (soils, vegetation, active layer thickness) has been established
at Victoria Land (VL) across a > 500 km latitudinal gradient of coastal sites (73◦–77◦S). In only one decade
large ecosystem changes were detected. Climate was characterized by a significant increase of thawing degree
days in northern VL and of autumn air temperature. No extreme climatic events (such as hot spells) where
detected in the study period. Soil chemistry suffered large quantitative changes, clearly indicating rapid pedogenetic
processes. In most soils the upper layers exhibited a strong alkalinization (pH increases up to 3 units) and
increases in conductivity, anions and cations (in particular of SO4 and Na). The largest changes were observed in
soils with low vegetation cover. Statistically significant differences in soil chemistry were detected between soils
with high and low vegetation cover, the former showing lower pH, conductivity, Na and Cl. Most plots exhibited
changes of total cover, species richness and floristic composition, with vegetation expansion in soils with low
vegetation cover and the largest increase recorded at Apostrophe Island (northern VL). Principal Component
Analysis (PCA) identified the main trend of vegetation change, with a shift from lower to higher cover and a
secondary trend of change associated with a gradient of water availability, consistent with an increase in water
instead of snow. Redundancy analysis (RDA) identified the trend of change in soil chemistry with increases in pH,
conductivity, anions and cations associated with the concomitant decrease in C, N, NO3, PO4. The RDA confirmed
that soil changes were associated with a gradient of vegetation change (from low to high cover) as well as of
water availability, as already indirectly outlined by the PCA. Field manipulation experiments carried out at five
locations of the network between 73◦S and 77◦S, simulating increases of precipitation from snow or water additions
didn’t induce changes in soil pH, indicating that pulse events of snow accumulation or melting could not
trigger persistent soil pH changes. These data allow hypothesize the occurrence of a main ecosystem change
occurring at regional scale at Victoria Land. The slight air warming and its consequences on soil chemistry and
vegetation, further highlight the sensitivity of the fragile Antarctic ecosystems to the consequences of even small
changes in climate.
