Physical and biological features of an active rock glacier in the Italian Alps

Gobbi, Mauro; Ballarin, Francesco; Compostella, Chiara; Lencioni, Valeria; Seppi, Roberto; Tampucci, Duccio; Caccianiga, Marco

doi:10.1177/0959683614544050

Cited by 18 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 22 publications

(28 reference statements)

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“…While the rock glacier in Les Martinets suggests the presence of permafrost in the upper part, landform dynamics and related topography were more important to explain the distribution of vegetation types (e.g., Gobbi et al, 2014;Colombo et al, 2016). Besides, the active layer thickness prevents any influence of permafrost on plant life (van Tatenhove and Dikau, 1990;Körner, 2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of microclimate and geomorphological factors on alpine vegetation in the Western Swiss Alps

Giaccone

Luoto

Vittoz

et al. 2019

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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Among the numerous environmental factors affecting plant communities in alpine ecosystems, the influence of geomorphic processes and landforms has been minimally investigated. Subjected to persistent climate warming, it is vital to understand how these factors affect vegetation properties. Here, we studied 72 vegetation plots across three sites located in the Western Swiss Alps, characterized by high geomorphological variability and plant diversity. For each plot, vascular plant species were inventoried and ground surface temperature, soil moisture, topographic variables, earth surface processes (ESPs) and landform morphodynamics were assessed. The relationships between plant communities and environmental variables were analysed using non‐metric multi‐dimensional scaling (NMDS) and multivariate regression techniques (generalized linear model, GLM, and generalized additive model, GAM). Landform morphodynamics, growing degree days (sum of degree days above 5°C) and mean ground surface temperature were the most important explanatory variables of plant community composition. Furthermore, the regression models for species cover and species richness were significantly improved by adding a morphodynamics variable. This study provides complementary support that landform morphodynamics is a key factor, combined with growing degree days, to explain alpine plant distribution and community composition. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of microclimate and geomorphological factors on alpine vegetation in the Western Swiss Alps

Giaccone

Luoto

Vittoz

et al. 2019

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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“…Gobbi et al . , b, , ). The differences in the arthropod fauna between the two study areas are thus not attributable to the substrate itself, but probably to other micro‐habitat factors (the scenopoetic ones, sensus Soberón ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…; Gobbi et al . ). Vegetation cover and plant assemblages on active rock glaciers depend on debris grain size and creeping activity: surfaces with coarse‐grained debris and high creeping activity are scarcely or not colonized at all by plants, while surfaces with fine‐grained debris and low creeping activity can be colonized by pioneer plant species adapted to mechanical disturbance and low temperatures (Cannone & Gerdol ; Burga et al .…”

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confidence: 97%

“…The low temperatures recorded in coarse‐grained zones can represent not only a limiting factor for plant establishment, but also an opportunity for cold‐adapted arthropods (especially ground beetles) to find suitable thermal conditions in an unfavourable environmental context outside active rock glaciers (Gobbi et al . ). In dry mountain ranges like Sierra Nevada (USA), the microclimate features of active rock glaciers allow cold‐adapted plant species to live below their normal altitudinal distribution.…”

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confidence: 97%

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Ecology of active rock glaciers and surrounding landforms: climate, soil, plants and arthropods

Tampucci

Gobbi

Marano

et al. 2017

Boreas

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Active rock glaciers are periglacial landforms consisting of coarse debris with interstitial ice or ice-core. Recent studies showed that such landforms are able to support plant and arthropod life and could act as warm-stage refugia for cold-adapted species due to their microclimate features and thermal inertia. However, integrated research comparing active rock glaciers with surrounding landforms to outline their ecological peculiarities is still scarce. We analysed the abiotic (ground surface temperature and humidity, soil physical and chemical parameters) and biotic (plant and arthropod communities) features of two Alpine active rock glaciers with contrasting lithology (silicate and carbonate), and compared them with the surrounding iceless landforms as reference sites (stable slopes and active scree slopes). Our data show remarkable differences between stable slopes and unstable landforms as a whole, while few differences occur between active scree slopes and active rock glaciers: such landforms show similar soil features but different ground surface temperatures (lower on active rock glaciers) and different occurrence of cold-adapted species (more frequent/abundant on active rock glaciers). Both plant and arthropod species distributions depend mainly on the geographical context as a function of soil pH and on the contrast between stable slopes and unstable landforms as a function of the coarse debris fraction and organic matter content, while the few differences between active scree slopes and active rock glaciers can probably be attributed to microclimate. The role of active rock glaciers as potential warm-stage refugia for cold-adapted species is supported by our data; however, at least in the European Alps, their role in this may be less important than that of debris-covered glaciers, which are able to host cold-adapted species even below the climatic tree line.

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“…Understanding how insects potentially react and adapt to climate change is one of the major challenges in predicting future biodiversity trends (Clark & Worland, ). Several studies have documented the vulnerability of alpine terrestrial plant and animal species to recent climate warming (e.g., Gobbi et al ., ), but our knowledge of how alpine aquatic ecosystems will respond to climate change is still limited. In mountain freshwaters, global warming will likely affect biodiversity (e.g., species extinctions, changes in the composition of assemblages), water resources (e.g., a reduction in the extent of glaciated areas and snow pack), and natural hazards (e.g., floods) (Brown et al ., ; Nogués‐Bravo et al ., ; Finn et al ., ; Khamis et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal survival limits of young and mature larvae of a cold stenothermal chironomid from the Alps (Diamesinae: Pseudodiamesa branickii [Nowicki, 1873])

Lencioni

Bernabò

2016

Insect Science

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The threats posed by climate change make it important to expand knowledge concerning cold and heat tolerance in stenothermal species from habitats potentially threatened by temperature changes. Thermal limits and basal metabolism variations were investigated in Pseudodiamesa branickii (Diptera: Chironomidae) under thermal stress between -20 and 37 °C. Supercooling point (SCP), lower (LLTs) and upper lethal temperatures (ULTs), and oxygen consumption rate were measured in overwintering young (1st and 2nd instar) and mature (3rd and 4th instar) larvae from an Alpine glacier-fed stream. Both young and mature larvae were freezing tolerant (SCPs = -7.1 °C and -6.4 °C, respectively; LLT -20 °C) and thermotolerant (ULT = 31.7 ± 0.4, 32.5 ± 0.3, respectively). However, ontogenetic differences in acute tolerance were observed. The LLT calculated for the young larvae (= -7.4 °C) was almost equal to their SCP (= -7.1 °C) and the overlapping of the proportion of mortality curve with the CPIF curve highlighted that the young larvae are borderline between freezing tolerance and freezing avoidance. Furthermore, a lower ULT in the young larvae (of ca. 1 °C), suggests that they are less thermotolerant than mature larvae. Finally, young larvae exhibit a higher oxygen consumption rate (mgO /gAFDM/h) at any temperature tested and are overall less resistant to oxygen depletion compared to mature larvae at ≥10 °C. These findings suggest that mature larvae enter into a dormant state by lowering their basal metabolism until environmental conditions improve in order to save energy for life cycle completion during stressful conditions.

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Physical and biological features of an active rock glacier in the Italian Alps

Cited by 18 publications

References 22 publications

Influence of microclimate and geomorphological factors on alpine vegetation in the Western Swiss Alps

Influence of microclimate and geomorphological factors on alpine vegetation in the Western Swiss Alps

Ecology of active rock glaciers and surrounding landforms: climate, soil, plants and arthropods

Thermal survival limits of young and mature larvae of a cold stenothermal chironomid from the Alps (Diamesinae: Pseudodiamesa branickii [Nowicki, 1873])

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