A comparison between Northern and Southern Hemisphere tundras and related ecosystems

Abstract

Climatic, edaphic, and vegetation parameters are compared among three Subantarctic islands and one Maritime Antarctic island, and Northern Hemisphere tundras and tundra-like ecosystems (ranging from higharctic to cool-temperate oceanic and temperate alpine), mainly by Principal Component Analyses (PCA). All analyses of abiotic variables emphasized the extreme oceanicity of the Southern Hemisphere sites and showed the strong influence of seaspray on soil nutrient ratios in the southern sites. Analyses of climate classified all the southern sites as “Cold Oceanic” within a series of very oceanic climates that were distinct from the continental/subalpine climates more typical of the northern sites. Four factorial groups were derived from the vectors in PCA of soils and climate combined. Each was a grouping of several variables that was essentially independent of the other groups. They were: general climatic severity, soil base status, supply of “labile” nutrients, and a combined index of oceanicity with organic/mineral balance and drainage. The ecological significance of these is discussed. The range of soil nutrient levels in the southern sites is approximately equal to that of the northern sites; however, in the southern sites soil nutrient levels are inversely related to climatic severity while in the north the reverse is true. The two most important causes of these opposed trends are the relative ages of the sites and the much greater effects of sea-based vertebrates (e.g. seals and seabirds) in the southern islands. Cluster analyses of component scores derived from climatic and soil data linked the southern sites with northern sites at higher latitudes, indicating the effect of the Antarctic continent on the Southern Ocean (hence on the overall climate of the southern islands) and of wind-chill on the aerial and soil climates of the southern sites. Vegetation patterns (derived from PCA of life form data) were more complex because of the serial replacement of one lifeform by onother along continuous environmental gradients. Wind exposure was an important element in the first two vectors derived from the PCA of the botanical data. The Southern Hemisphere sites exhibited almost the full range of vegetation types found in the Northern Hemisphere, despite their floristic poverty. Variation within individual islands was comparable with that found at considerably higher (up to 30° more) northern latitudes and reflects the overriding importance of wind exposure in the southern islands. Subarctic ecosystems are generally less severe forms of Arctic ones, and decreasing latitude leads to increasingly milder environments with no great changes overall in continentality. In contrast, the Subantarctic combines elements from the extremes of the range of northen tundras (i.e. high-Arctic and cool-temperate oceanic) with its own peculiar features (e.g. animal influences) to produce ecosystems that are qualitatively different both from Subarctic systems and from the continental Antarctic regions to which they are geographically closest.