External nutrient inputs into terrestrial ecosystems of the Falkland Islands and the Maritime Antarctic region

By S. Bokhorst, A. Huiskes, Peter Convey, R. Aerts. Polar Biology, 2007

90 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems are nutrient-poor and depend for their functioning in part on external nutrients. However, little is known about the relative importance of various sources. We measured external mineral nutrient sources (wind blown material, precipitation and guano) at three locations, the cold temperate oceanic Falkland Islands (51°76′S), and the Maritime Antarctic Signy (60°71′S) and Anchorage Islands (67°61′S). These islands differ in the level of vegetation development through different environmental constraints and historical factors. Total mineral nitrogen input differed considerably between the islands. During the 3 month summer period it amounted to 18 mg N m−2 on the Falkland Islands and 6 and 102 mg N m−2 at Signy and Anchorage Islands, respectively. The high value for Anchorage was a result of guano deposition. By measuring stable isotopic composition (δ15N) of the different nitrogen sources and the dominant plant species, we investigated the relative utilisation of each source by the vegetation at each island. We conclude that external mineral nitrogen inputs to Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems show great spatial variability, with the local presence of bird (or other vertebrate) colonies being particularly significant.

Subfields: Atmospheric Science, Ecology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/d1fdd77a60b83f5f991db8375a8ef5e4bd39ef10

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Atmospheric Science

  1. Peter Convey
  2. A. Clarke
  3. Huw Griffiths

In Ecology

  1. Peter Convey
  2. A. Clarke
  3. Huw Griffiths
  4. S. Bokhorst
  5. A. Huiskes
  6. Francesco Frati
  7. S. Morley
  8. P. Schulte

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