Abstract
Terrestrial life response to climate warming in Sørkapp Land after the Little Ice Age is described. Plant succession starts in the areas abandoned by glaciers and continues in the areas which have been outside glaciers. Continuous tundra becomes denser in many places of the west and south. A denser tundra attracts animal species feeding on plants. Vegetation of non-glaciated areas in the north-east is very sparse until now in spite of persisting development. Scarce fauna of the NE Sørkapp Land consists mainly of several bird species feeding on the sea. They are of great importance in plant and soil development, delivering organic matter to the land by fertilizing. Persisting warming leads an increase of the landscape heterogenity.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Birkenmajer K, Nagy J, Dallmann WK (1992) Geological Map, Svalbard, 1:100000, Markhambreen. In: Norsk Polarinstitutt Temakart 22
Dubiel E, Olech M (1990) Plant communities of NW Sörkapp Land (Spitsbergen). Zesz Nauk UJ Pr Bot 21:35–74
Dubiel E, Olech M (1991) Phytosociological map of NW Sörkapp Land (Spitsbergen). Zesz Nauk UJ Pr Bot 22:47–54
Dubiel E, Olech M (1993) State of studies on the flora and vegetation of NW Sørkapp Land (Spitsbergen). Zesz Nauk UJ Pr Geogr 94:105–110
Dubiel E, Ziaja W (1993) Contribution to the vascular plant flora of Sörkapp Land (Spitsbergen). Polish Bot Stud 5:49–51
Lefauconnier B, Hagen JO (1991) Surging and calving glaciers in eastern Svalbard. Norsk Polarinstitutt Meddelelser 116:130
Norderhaug M (1989) Svalbards fugler. Dreyer, Oslo (in Norwegian)
Summerhayes VS, Elton CS (1928) Further contributions to the ecology of Spitsbergen. J Ecol 16:193–268
Wüthrich C (1991) Landschaftökologische Umweltforschung: Beiträge zu den Wechselwirkungen zwischen biotischen und abiotischen Faktoren im hocharktischen Ökosystem (Spitzbergen). Die Erde 122:335–352 (in German)
Ziaja W (1999) Rozwoj geosystemu Sørkapplandu, Svalbard, Wydawnictwo UJ, Krakow (in Polish)
Ziaja W (2002) Changes in the landscape structure of Sørkappland. In: Ziaja W, Skiba S (eds) Sørkappland landscape structure and functioning (Spitsbergen, Svalbard). Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, Krakow, pp 18–50
Ziaja W (2004) Spitsbergen Landscape under 20th Century Climate Change: Sørkapp Land. AMBIO 33(6):295–299
Ziaja W, Maciejowski W (2005) Life expansion in NE Sorkapp Land, Spitsbergen, under the contempoary climate warming. In: Investigating life in extreme environments. Book of Abstracts. On line at: http://www.esf.org/conferences/ILEE. European Science Foundation, Sant Feliu de Guixols, pp 61–62
Ziaja W, Ostafin K (2005) Dynamika krajobrazu przesmyku ladowego miedzy Sørkapplandem a reszta Spitsbergenu, Polish Polar Studies: 218–225 (in Polish)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2006 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ziaja, W. (2006). Life expansion in Sørkapp Land, Spitsbergen, under the current climate warming. In: Amils, R., Ellis-Evans, C., Hinghofer-Szalkay, H. (eds) Life in Extreme Environments. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6285-8_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6285-8_14
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-6284-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-6285-8
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)