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Tri-Variate Relationships among Vegetation, Soil, and Topography along Gradients of Fluvial Biogeomorphic Succession

This research investigated how the strength of vegetation–soil–topography couplings varied along a gradient of biogeomorphic succession in two distinct fluvial systems: a forested river floodplain and a coastal salt marsh creek. The strength of couplings was quantified as tri-variance, which was cal...

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Autores principales: Kim, Daehyun, Kupfer, John A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5029874/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27649497
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0163223
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author Kim, Daehyun
Kupfer, John A.
author_facet Kim, Daehyun
Kupfer, John A.
author_sort Kim, Daehyun
collection PubMed
description This research investigated how the strength of vegetation–soil–topography couplings varied along a gradient of biogeomorphic succession in two distinct fluvial systems: a forested river floodplain and a coastal salt marsh creek. The strength of couplings was quantified as tri-variance, which was calculated by correlating three singular axes, one each extracted using three-block partial least squares from vegetation, soil, and topography data blocks. Within each system, tri-variance was examined at low-, mid-, and high-elevation sites, which represented early-, intermediate-, and late-successional phases, respectively, and corresponded to differences in ongoing disturbance frequency and intensity. Both systems exhibited clearly increasing tri-variance from the early- to late-successional stages. The lowest-lying sites underwent frequent and intense hydrogeomorphic forcings that dynamically reworked soil substrates, restructured surface landforms, and controlled the colonization of plant species. Such conditions led vegetation, soil, and topography to show discrete, stochastic, and individualistic behaviors over space and time, resulting in a loose coupling among the three ecosystem components. In the highest-elevation sites, in contrast, disturbances that might disrupt the existing biotic–abiotic relationships were less common. Hence, ecological succession, soil-forming processes, and landform evolution occurred in tight conjunction with one another over a prolonged period, thereby strengthening couplings among them; namely, the three behaved in unity over space and time. We propose that the recurrence interval of physical disturbance is important to—and potentially serves as an indicator of—the intensity and mechanisms of vegetation–soil–topography feedbacks in fluvial biogeomorphic systems.
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spelling pubmed-50298742016-10-10 Tri-Variate Relationships among Vegetation, Soil, and Topography along Gradients of Fluvial Biogeomorphic Succession Kim, Daehyun Kupfer, John A. PLoS One Research Article This research investigated how the strength of vegetation–soil–topography couplings varied along a gradient of biogeomorphic succession in two distinct fluvial systems: a forested river floodplain and a coastal salt marsh creek. The strength of couplings was quantified as tri-variance, which was calculated by correlating three singular axes, one each extracted using three-block partial least squares from vegetation, soil, and topography data blocks. Within each system, tri-variance was examined at low-, mid-, and high-elevation sites, which represented early-, intermediate-, and late-successional phases, respectively, and corresponded to differences in ongoing disturbance frequency and intensity. Both systems exhibited clearly increasing tri-variance from the early- to late-successional stages. The lowest-lying sites underwent frequent and intense hydrogeomorphic forcings that dynamically reworked soil substrates, restructured surface landforms, and controlled the colonization of plant species. Such conditions led vegetation, soil, and topography to show discrete, stochastic, and individualistic behaviors over space and time, resulting in a loose coupling among the three ecosystem components. In the highest-elevation sites, in contrast, disturbances that might disrupt the existing biotic–abiotic relationships were less common. Hence, ecological succession, soil-forming processes, and landform evolution occurred in tight conjunction with one another over a prolonged period, thereby strengthening couplings among them; namely, the three behaved in unity over space and time. We propose that the recurrence interval of physical disturbance is important to—and potentially serves as an indicator of—the intensity and mechanisms of vegetation–soil–topography feedbacks in fluvial biogeomorphic systems. Public Library of Science 2016-09-20 /pmc/articles/PMC5029874/ /pubmed/27649497 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0163223 Text en © 2016 Kim, Kupfer http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Kim, Daehyun
Kupfer, John A.
Tri-Variate Relationships among Vegetation, Soil, and Topography along Gradients of Fluvial Biogeomorphic Succession
title Tri-Variate Relationships among Vegetation, Soil, and Topography along Gradients of Fluvial Biogeomorphic Succession
title_full Tri-Variate Relationships among Vegetation, Soil, and Topography along Gradients of Fluvial Biogeomorphic Succession
title_fullStr Tri-Variate Relationships among Vegetation, Soil, and Topography along Gradients of Fluvial Biogeomorphic Succession
title_full_unstemmed Tri-Variate Relationships among Vegetation, Soil, and Topography along Gradients of Fluvial Biogeomorphic Succession
title_short Tri-Variate Relationships among Vegetation, Soil, and Topography along Gradients of Fluvial Biogeomorphic Succession
title_sort tri-variate relationships among vegetation, soil, and topography along gradients of fluvial biogeomorphic succession
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5029874/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27649497
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0163223
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