Exploring the Functional Role of Antarctic Plants during Terrestrial Succession: Fine-Scale Survey

A consequence of rapid warming on the Antarctic Peninsula is the melting and subsequent retreat of glaciers, leading to an increase in newly-exposed land on the Peninsula that was previously covered with ice. The process of ecological succession on this new terrain begins, but the mechanisms by which they occur on the Antarctic continent is not well understood. Once early colonizing plants have established on the newly-exposed soil, they can change many important properties, such as water dynamics, nutrient recycling, soil development, and habitat for microscopic organisms, which will ultimately determine the structure and functioning of the future ecosystem as it develops. This project makes a comprehensive study of how the type of colonizing plant, and the expansion of those plants from climate change, will influence terrestrial ecosystems in Antarctica. This project uses surveys across succession sites on King George Island to test how species-specific plant functional traits impact soil properties and associated microbial and invertebrate communities in a greening Antarctica. We measured the relative effects of fundamental plant functional traits on soil physicochemical and biological (both microbial and invertebrate) properties across glacial succession gradients in Antarctica. In doing so, we explore how early-colonizing plants, especially mosses and lichens, alter soil physical, biogeochemical, and biological components.