Relationships between soil physico-chemical properties and microbial activity along a restoration chronosequence of alpine grasslands following ski run construction

Gros, Raphaël; Monrozier, L. Jocteur; Bartoli, F.; Chotte, Jean Luc; Faivre, Pierre

doi:10.1016/j.apsoil.2004.03.004

Cited by 63 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Accordingly, less organic matter has been found in the upper organo-mineral horizons (A) of the ski-slopes compared to the grasslands, suggesting either a lower organic matter accumulation, due to a lower biomass production in the ski-slope soil, or a stronger dilution of the former soil organic matter caused by mixing mineral and organo-mineral horizons during the ski-slope construction process. These results are in keeping with those reported in previous papers (Freppaz et al 2002;Gros et al 2004;Barni et al 2007;Pintar et al 2009;Pohl et al 2009;Martin et al 2010;Roux-Fouillet et al 2011). Moreover, most of the soil properties in both the ski-pistes and in the grasslands seemed to be closely related to elevation.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…soil, vegetation and animals. Studies on the impact of ski-pistes have mostly been concentrated on soils (Freppaz et al 2002;Gros et al 2004;Pintar et al 2009 ), and on vegetation (Delarze 1994;Van Ommeren 2001;Wipf et al 2005), or, more rarely, on the combination of soil and vegetation (Barni et al 2007;Pohl et al 2009;Martin et al 2010;RouxFouillet et al 2011). The studies conducted on animals have not considered soil, and have only taken into account vegetation marginally (Laiolo and Rolando 2005;Rolando et al 2007;Caprio et al 2011;Negro et al 2009Negro et al , 2010Negro et al , 2013Rolando et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Differential responses of ground dwelling arthropods to ski-piste restoration by hydroseeding

et al. 2013

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The construction of ski-pistes can cause serious damage to all the components of an ecosystem and may therefore be considered as one of the main causes of human-driven environmental changes in mountain habitats. This study was aimed at assessing the responses of different ground dwelling arthropod assemblages (i.e. ground beetles, spiders and grasshoppers) to ski-piste restoration through hydroseeding with commercial seed mixtures. The soil, vegetation and arthropods of restored and un-restored ski-pistes and the adjacent grassland have been sampled at two high altitude sites in the north-western Italian Alps. The ski-piste soil was characterized by a higher skeletal content and, consequently, a lower amount of fine earth and organic matter than that of the undisturbed adjacent grassland. The plant cover of the restored ski-pistes was very low above 2500 m a.s.l.; the vegetation cover below this threshold was higher in the study area, mainly due to the seeded species. The unrestored ski-pistes showed very large proportions of bare ground. The responses of the three ground-dwelling arthropod groups to vegetation conditions were different. GLMMs and IndVal analyses showed that all three groups avoided the unrestored skipistes plots, which were characterized by a very scarce vegetation cover, irrespective of the altitude. The low altitude plots of the restored ski-pistes, which were characterized by a high vegetation cover, had a significantly larger number of grasshoppers on the ski-pistes than on the adjacent grassland plots. Moreover, these restored ski-piste plots were used in equal proportion to the adjacent grassland plots by ground beetles but avoided by spiders. When ski-pistes become sufficiently revegetated by hydroseeded plants, they are colonized by grasshoppers and, to a lesser extent, by ground-beetles. Spiders, instead, do not colonize the pistes, thus demonstrating that they are the most sensitive arthropods and may therefore represent the best indicators of human-driven environmental changes in high altitude alpine habitats.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential responses of ground dwelling arthropods to ski-piste restoration by hydroseeding

et al. 2013

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“…The dominance of native alpine species (e.g. Potentilla parvifolia and Carex alrofusca) may have controlled the soil carbon dynamics through changes in root colonisation and exudation, which in turn may have resulted in changes to the nitrogen-fixing bacterial community structure (Bardgett et al, 1998;Gros et al, 2004). Lineage-specific analysis, the Unifrac significance test and the P test all indicated that the nitrogen-fixing bacterial communities beneath Potentilla differed from the ones beneath Carex (Table 3).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High diversity of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the upper reaches of the Heihe River, northwestern China

et al. 2013

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Vegetation plays a key role in water conservation in the southern Qilian Mountains (northwestern China), located in the upper reaches of the Heihe River. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria are crucial for the protection of the nitrogen supply for vegetation in the region. In the present study, nifH gene clone libraries were established to determine differences between the nitrogen-fixing bacterial communities of the Potentilla parvifolia shrubland and the Carex alrofusca meadow in the southern Qilian Mountains. All of the identified nitrogen-fixing bacterial clones belonged to the Proteobacteria. At the genus level, Azospirillum was only detected in the shrubland soil, while Thiocapsa, Derxia, Ectothiorhodospira, Mesorhizobium, Klebsiella, Ensifer, Methylocella and Pseudomonas were only detected in the meadow soil. The phylogenetic tree was divided into five lineages: lineages I, II and III mainly contained nifH sequences obtained from the meadow soils, while lineage IV was mainly composed of nifH sequences obtained from the shrubland soils. The Shannon–Wiener index of the nifH genes ranged from 1.5 to 2.8 and was higher in the meadow soils than in the shrubland soils. Based on these analyses of diversity and phylogeny, the plant species were hypothesised to influence N cycling by enhancing the fitness of certain nitrogen-fixing taxa. The number of nifH gene copies and colony-forming units (CFUs) of the cultured nitrogen-fixing bacteria were lower in the meadow soils than in the shrubland soils, ranging from 0.4 × 10⁷ to 6.9 × 10⁷ copies g⁻¹ soil and 0.97 × 10⁶ to 12.78 × 10⁶ g⁻¹ soil, respectively. Redundancy analysis (RDA) revealed that the diversity and number of the nifH gene copies were primarily correlated with aboveground biomass in the shrubland soil. In the meadow soil, nifH gene diversity was most affected by altitude, while copy number was most impacted by soil-available K. These results suggest that the nitrogen-fixing bacterial communities beneath Potentilla were different from those beneath Carex

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“…Studies mainly deal with soil nutrient status on the machine-graded and levelled ski slopes in relation to their potential use as a substrate for revegetation practices (Ruth-Balaganskaya & Myllynen-Malinen, 2000;Gros et al 2004). But ski slope reclamation also results in an alteration of airwater properties in the soil.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of ski slopes management on Krvavec ski resort (Slovenia) on hydrological functions of soils

2009

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Abstract:The study was performed on the ski resort Krvavec, which is one of the most frequented ski resorts in Slovenia. The ski slopes serve as pastures for cattle during summer time and range from 1500 to 2000 m a.s.l., which is at or above the upper timberline. To offer a longer ski season and to profit snow better (either natural or artificial one) the slopes have been levelled and consequently the soil profile has been changed. Such altered soil profile characteristics strongly impact hydrological functions of soils. To study these impacts, five plots (20 × 20 m) have been chosen on the slopes with a different history: pasture without any amelioration work, a patch of forest in the ski resort without any ameliorations, and three plots with different intensity of amelioration. Dynamics of soil water content on each plot has been determined by measuring soil water content in-situ with portable TDR system during several days after long lasting heavy rains. Statistically significant differences were shown in soil water content between the plots after the rain, although some differences between plots have disappeared in the following days.

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Relationships between soil physico-chemical properties and microbial activity along a restoration chronosequence of alpine grasslands following ski run construction

Cited by 63 publications

References 43 publications

Differential responses of ground dwelling arthropods to ski-piste restoration by hydroseeding

Differential responses of ground dwelling arthropods to ski-piste restoration by hydroseeding

High diversity of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the upper reaches of the Heihe River, northwestern China

The impact of ski slopes management on Krvavec ski resort (Slovenia) on hydrological functions of soils

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