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Titel |
Relationships between substrate, surface characteristics, and vegetation in an initial ecosystem |
VerfasserIn |
P. Biber, S. Seifert, M. K. Zaplata, W. Schaaf, H. Pretzsch, A. Fischer |
Medientyp |
Artikel
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Sprache |
Englisch
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ISSN |
1726-4170
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Digitales Dokument |
URL |
Erschienen |
In: Biogeosciences ; 10, no. 12 ; Nr. 10, no. 12 (2013-12-16), S.8283-8303 |
Datensatznummer |
250085481
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Publikation (Nr.) |
copernicus.org/bg-10-8283-2013.pdf |
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Zusammenfassung |
We investigated surface and vegetation dynamics in the artificial initial
ecosystem "Chicken Creek" (Lusatia, Germany) in the years 2006–2011 across
a wide spectrum of empirical data. We scrutinized three overarching
hypotheses concerning (1) the relations between initial geomorphological and
substrate characteristics with surface structure and terrain properties, (2)
the effects of the latter on the occurrence of grouped plant species, and (3)
vegetation density effects on terrain surface change.
Our data comprise and conflate annual vegetation monitoring results, biennial
terrestrial laser scans (starting in 2008), annual groundwater levels, and
initially measured soil characteristics. The empirical evidence mostly
confirms the hypotheses, revealing statistically significant relations for
several goal variables: (1) the surface structure properties, local rill
density, local relief energy and terrain surface height change; (2) the cover
of different plant groups (annual, herbaceous, grass-like, woody,
Fabaceae), and local vegetation height; and (3) terrain
surface height change showed significant time-dependent relations with a
variable that proxies local plant biomass. Additionally, period specific effects
(like a calendar-year optimum effect for the occurrence of Fabaceae)
were proven.
Further and beyond the hypotheses, our findings on the spatiotemporal
dynamics during the system's early development grasp processes which
generally mark the transition from a geo-hydro-system towards a
bio-geo-hydro system (weakening geomorphology effects on substrate surface
dynamics, while vegetation effects intensify with time), where pure
geomorphology or substrate feedbacks are changing into vegetation–substrate
feedback processes. |
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