Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2023
Höfundar / Authors: Bastien Papinot (1), Snæbjörn Pálsson (1), Ingibjörg Svala Jónsdóttir (1)
Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: 1. University of Iceland
Kynnir / Presenter: Bastien Papinot
Bryophytes are often abundant in tundra ecosystems, thriving in challenging environments and fostering diverse microscopic food webs (often called the bryosphere). They play vital ecological roles like storing carbon and nitrogen, regulating the soil environment, and impacting biogeochemical cycling. Climate change, and especially rapid warming in the Arctic, is transforming the tundra vegetation: non-vascular plants are declining as shrubs and grasses thrive, although modulated by factors like livestock grazing. Therefore, it is essential to better understand the consequences of environmental factors on the different ecosystem processes related to bryophytes. However, up to now, the ecological role of bryophytes has been limited by identification issues. This project aims at exploring how bryophyte diversity shapes Arctic and sub-Arctic ecosystems by considering the functional diversity of the different species and Bryophyte Functional Groups (BFGs) involved. It comprises three main parts: studying the meaning of structural and functional traits for the different BFGs; understanding the functionality of moss colonies via their composition, considering intraspecific and intra-BFG variations; and finally assessing their influence on ecosystem processes, using the example of the link between bryosphere diversity and litter decomposition. This poster will present the different research questions of my PhD project and present the first methods used and following steps.