Rates of plant succession, carbon and nitrogen accumulation in small-scale tundra chronosequences; an implication for climate change

The rate in which plants are able to colonize and build up soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (N) in soil are crucial in understanding the effect of environmental changes on high latitude ecosystems via plant community. In this presentation we present high-spatial-resolution data of plant colonization and SOC and N accumulation rates occurring on frost boils that are common in many periglacial landscapes. The diameters of each frost boil ranges from 1 to 3 meters. The distribution of plant community across a frost boil can be identified as a gradient of ongoing primary succession. The primary succession is initiated in the centre of the frost boil every time up-frozen soil is deposited on top of the surface. A subsequent lateral mass-movement of newly deposited soil from the centre of the frost boil towards the rim over time causes the surface soil and plant community to become progressively "older" from the centre towards the rim of the frost boil. In the presented work we constrain the age of the soil surface as a function of distance from the centre of the frost boil towards the rim by using lichenometry dating. With this investigation, we achieve soil age gradients (chronosequences) ranging from approximately from 0 to 300 years for meters-scale. We present data from northern Sweden where we have utilized this small-scale variation in soil age to understand how the accumulation rate of SOC and N varies over time in the upper 10 cm of the arctic soil and how the accumulation rates is affected by other ecosystem properties such as temperature, plant diversity, dominant plant functional groups and litter quality. Our key conclusions is that reduced soil frost actions, which is likely to accompany the predicted warming of the Scandinavian arctic, are likely to accelerate the colonization rate of vegetation that will enhance the accumulation of SOC and N. However, one likely side effect of this colonization into previously frost-disturbed system is the decline in spatial heterogeneity of plant community structure in tundra systems. Reference Makoto, K and Klaminder, J. (in review) The influence of non-sorted circles on species diversity of vascular plant, moss and lichens in sub-arctic tundra. Arct Antarct Alp Res.