Successional patterns along soil development gradients formed by glacier retreat in the Maritime Antarctic, King George Island

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Maritime Antarctica is severely affected by climate change and accelerating glacier retreat forming temporal gradients of soil development. Successional patterns of soil development and plant succession in the region are largely unknown, as are the feedback mechanisms between both processes. Here we identify three temporal gradients representing horizontal and vertical glacier retreat, as well as formation of raised beaches due to isostatic uplift, and describe soil formation and plant succession along them. Our hypotheses are (i) plants in Antarctica are able to modulate the two base parameters in soil development, organic C content and pH, along the temporal gradients, leading to an increase in organic carbon and soil acidity at relatively short time scales, (ii) the soil development induces succession along these gradients, and (iii) with increasing soil development, bryophytes and Deschampsia antarctica develop mycorrhiza in maritime Antarctica in order to foster interaction with soil RESULTS: All temporal gradients showed soil development leading to differentiation of soil horizons, carbon accumulation and increasing pH with age. Photoautptroph succession occurred rapidly after glacier retreat, but occurrences of mosses and lichens interacting with soils by rhizoids or rhizines were only observed in the later stages. The community of ground dwelling mosses and lichens is the climax community of soil succession, as the Antarctic hairgrass D. antarctica was restricted to ornithic soils. Neither D. antarctica nor mosses at the best developed soils showed any sign of mycorrhization CONCLUSION: Temporal gradients formed by glacier retreat can be identified in maritime Antarctic, where soil development and plant succession of a remarkable pace can be observed, although pseudo-succession occurs by fertilization gradients caused by bird feces. Thus, the majority of ice-free surface in Antarctica is colonized by plant communities which interact with soil by litter input rather than by direct transfer of photoassimilates to soil

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Impacts of the north and tropical Atlantic Ocean on the Antarctic Peninsula and sea ice.

Xichen Li, David M Holland, Edwin P Gerber … (2014)

In recent decades, Antarctica has experienced pronounced climate changes. The Antarctic Peninsula exhibited the strongest warming of any region on the planet, causing rapid changes in land ice. Additionally, in contrast to the sea-ice decline over the Arctic, Antarctic sea ice has not declined, but has instead undergone a perplexing redistribution. Antarctic climate is influenced by, among other factors, changes in radiative forcing and remote Pacific climate variability, but none explains the observed Antarctic Peninsula warming or the sea-ice redistribution in austral winter. However, in the north and tropical Atlantic Ocean, the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (a leading mode of sea surface temperature variability) has been overlooked in this context. Here we show that sea surface warming related to the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation reduces the surface pressure in the Amundsen Sea and contributes to the observed dipole-like sea-ice redistribution between the Ross and Amundsen-Bellingshausen-Weddell seas and to the Antarctic Peninsula warming. Support for these findings comes from analysis of observational and reanalysis data, and independently from both comprehensive and idealized atmospheric model simulations. We suggest that the north and tropical Atlantic is important for projections of future climate change in Antarctica, and has the potential to affect the global thermohaline circulation and sea-level change.