Differential Responses of Arctic Vegetation to Nutrient Enrichment by Plankton- and Fish-Eating Colonial Seabirds in Spitsbergen.

ABSTRACT: The role of seabirds as sea-land biovectors of nutrients is well documented. However, no studies have examined whether and how colonial seabirds that differ in diet may influence terrestrial vegetation. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to describe and compare plant communities located in the vicinity of the two most common types of seabird colonies in Arctic, occupied by piscivorous or planktivorous species. Within 46 plots arranged in four transects in the vicinity of planktivorous (little auk, Alle alle) and piscivorous colonies (mixed colony of Brunnich's guillemot, Uria lomvia, and black-legged kittiwake, Rissa tridactyla) we measured the following: guano deposition, physical and chemical characteristics of soil, total nitrogen and its stable isotope signatu

SUBMITTER: Zwolicki A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5187377 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature