The effects of grazing and climate warming on plant species in the Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands are composed of eighteen small islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. Heavily affected by grazing and harsh weather conditions, the mountaintop vegetation is exposed to multiple environmental pressures. In this project I examined the effects of climate warmi...
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| Formato: | H2 |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés Otro |
| Publicado: |
SLU/Dept. of Ecology
2020
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| Materias: |
| Sumario: | The Faroe Islands are composed of eighteen small islands situated in the middle of the
North Atlantic Ocean. Heavily affected by grazing and harsh weather conditions, the
mountaintop vegetation is exposed to multiple environmental pressures. In this project
I examined the effects of climate warming and grazing on Faroese plant species. Three
different treatments were used; an inside fenced area containing nine plots to exclude
grazing, and another ten plots with Open Top Chambers simulating climate warming and
finally nine plots outside the fenced area, which are consistently exposed to grazing.
Since 2001 high resolution photographs have been taken of the plots, for this study, the
years 2007 and 2017 being chosen for comparison. I developed a new method of plant
cover estimation for this study involving placing a digital quadrat on each photograph
within which the cover of nine different plant species was estimated.
The frequency of several plant species was observed to increase over the 10-year period,
as well as the overall plant diversity. Exceptions included Euphrasia which showed a
negative response to grazing, Salix herbacea and Silene acaulis which were negatively
affected by experimental warming, and Ranunculus acris which responded positively to
experimental warming. The difference in responses to the environmental pressures
examined could be attributed to various reasons; functional plant traits, adaptive
resilience and short term vs. to long term responses, amongst others. The continuation
of this monitoring study will help connect interactions between the different global
drivers of change and resulting effects on plant diversity in a region where climate
consequences are largely unknown. |
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