Еcophysiological characteristic of plants communities under the bird rookery of West Spitsbergen

Abstract

In the Arctic nature carries out its unique experiments, an example of which is the vegetation of bird colonies, where life is determined by the organic matter, which is taken out from the sea birds and is used only under the bird colonies. The absorption of nitrogen in the Arctic is limited by abiotic factors: low temperature and humidity, the slow erosion of rocks, low transpiration and the presence of permafrost. The data on the content of total nitrogen and chlorophyll in plants and lichens in communities located beneath bird colonies in the West Svalbard. The study showed that plant communities of rookeries, where the effect of one of the limiting factors of the Arctic (poor soil horizon) is reduced, give some idea of the "Green Arctic", where the current climate change is guiding it.

Keywords

• West Spitsbergen
• plants
• lichens
• ornitogenic communities
• pigments of plastid
• total nitrogen
• the "Green Arctic"