1. Patterns of species richness and species assemblage composition of ground‐dwelling arthropods in primary successions along glacier forelands are traditionally described using a taxonomic approach. On the other hand, the functional trait approach could ensure a better characterisation of their colonisation strategies in these types of habitat. 2. The functional trait approach was applied to investigate patterns of functional diversity and life‐history traits of ground beetles and spiders on an alpine debris‐covered glacier and along its forefield in order to describe their colonisation strategies. 3. Ground beetles and spiders were sampled at different successional stages, representing five stages of deglaciation. 4. The results show that the studied glacier hosts ground beetle and spider assemblages that are mainly characterised by the following traits: walking colonisers, ground hunters and small‐sized species. These traits are typical of species living in cold, wet, and gravelly habitats. The diversity of functional traits in spiders increased along the succession, and in both carabids and spiders, life‐history traits follow the ‘addition and persistence model’. Accordingly, there is no turnover but there is an addition of new traits and a variation in their proportion within each species assemblage along the succession. The distribution of ground beetles and spiders along the glacier foreland and on the glacier seems to be driven by dispersal ability and foraging strategy. 5. The proposed functional approach improves knowledge of the adaptive strategies of ground‐dwelling arthropods colonising glacier surfaces and recently deglaciated terrains, which represent landforms quickly changing due to global warming.
Glaciers are retreating worldwide, exposing new terrain to colonization by plants. Recently-deglaciated terrains have been a subject of ecological studies for a long time, as they represent a unique natural model system for examining the effects of global warming associated with glacier retreat on biodiversity and the spatio-temporal dynamic of communities. However, we still have a limited understanding of how physical and biotic factors interactively influence species persistence and community dynamics after glacier retreat and glacier extinction. Using hierarchical joint species distribution models, we integrated data on plant species occurrence at fine spatial scale, spatio-temporal context, environmental conditions, leaf traits, and species-to-species associations in plant communities spanning 0 to c 5,000 years on average after glacier retreat. Our results show that plant diversity initially increases with glacier retreat, but ultimately decreases after glacier extinction. The 22% of plant species non-linearly respond to glacier retreat and will locally disappear with glacier extinction. At the local scale, soil carbon enrichment and reduction of physical (topographic) disturbance positively contribute to distribution patterns in 66% of the species, indicating a strong impact of community-level environmental conditions. Furthermore, positive and negative associations among species play a relevant role (up to 34% of variance) in driving the spatio-temporal dynamic of plant communities. Global warming prompts a shift from facilitation to competition: positive associations prevail among pioneer species, whereas negative associations are relatively more common among late species. This pattern suggests a role of facilitation for enhancing plant diversity in recently ice-free terrains and of competition for decreasing species persistence in late stages. Associated to that, species persisting the most show more “conservative” traits than species of concern. In summary, although plant diversity initially increases with glacier retreat, more than a fifth of plant species are substantially declining and will disappear with glacier extinction. Even for the “winners,” the “victory” is not to be taken for granted due to the negative impact of rising competition. Integrating survey data with hierarchical and network models can help to forecast biodiversity change and anticipate cascading effects of glacier retreat on mountain ecosystems. These effects include the reduction of ecosystem services and benefits to humans, including food production from the pioneer species Artemisia genipi.
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