Global ecosystem typology

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T3.4 Young rocky pavements, lava flows and screes

Biome: T3. Shrublands and shrubby woodlands biome

Contributors:
(texts)

With a scattered distribution globally, these young rocky ecosystems are exposed to extreme temperatures, weathering and disturbance, and have limited capacity to retain water and nutrients. Analogues in icy environments belong to T6.2. Productivity and diversity are consequently low. Lichens and mosses are often abundant and important to ecosystem development, slowly building soils through incremental retention of moisture and nutrients. Successional development of soils and vegetation may be interrupted by landslides, eruptions and other mass movements. Small-leaved pioneer shrubs and grasses are sparse, often growing in crevices. The simple foodwebs are comprised mainly of microbes and itinerant organisms, with few resident vertebrates other than reptiles and ground-nesting birds.

Key Features

Low-diversity cryptogam-dominated systems with scattered herbs and shrubs on skeletal substrates with limited nutrients and moisture.

Overview of distribution

Around the Pacific  Rim, African Rift Valley, Mediterranean and north Atlantic.

Profile versions

Main references

Selected references for this functional group:

  • Anderson-Teixeira KJ, Vitousek PM, Brown JH (2007) Amplified temperature dependence in ecosystems developing on the lava flows of Mauna Loa, Hawai’i PNAS 105: 228-233 DOI:pnas.0710214104

  • Crews TE, Kurina, LM, Vitousek PM (2001) Organic matter and nitrogen accumulation and nitrogen fixation during early ecosystem development in Hawaii Biogeochemistry 52: 259-279 DOI:10.1023/A:1006441726650

  • Cutler NA, Belyea LR, Dugmore AJ (2008) The spatiotemporal dynamics of a primary succession Journal of Ecology 96: 231-246

Diagrammatic assembly model

Diagrammatic assembly model of T3.4 Young rocky pavements, lava flows and screes. See general notes on diagrams. Open image full size.

Maps

Maps are indicative of global distribution patterns are not intended to represent fine-scale patterns. The maps show areas of the world containing major (coloured red) or minor occurrences (coloured yellow) of each ecosystem functional group. See general notes on maps.

There are 2 alternative versions of the indicative map for this functional group, please compare description and sources below.

T3.4.IM.mix_v1.0

Datasets

  • Resolve-Ecoregions-2017
  • EarthEnv-LandCover-v1.0

Map references

  • Dinerstein E, Olson D, Joshi A, Vynne C, Burgess ND, Wikramanayake E, Hahn N, Palminteri S, Hedao P, Noss R, Hansen M, Locke H, Ellis EE, Jones B, Barber CV, Hayes R, Kormos C, Martin V, Crist E, Sechrest W, Price L, Baillie JEM, Weeden D, Suckling K, Davis C, Sizer N, Moore R, Thau D, Birch T, Potapov P, Turubanova S, Tyukavina A, de Souza N, Pintea L, Brito JC, Llewellyn Barnekow Lillesø JP, van Breugel P, Graudal L, Voge M, Al-Shammari KF, Saleem M (2017) An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm, BioScience 67: 534–545. DOI:10.1093/biosci/bix014. Data-set available on-line

  • Tuanmu, M.-N. and W. Jetz (2014) A global 1-km consensus land-cover product for biodiversity and ecosystem modeling Global Ecology and Biogeography 23(9):1031–1045 DOI:10.1111/geb.12182

T3.4.web.mix_v1.0

Major and minor occurrences were initially identified using consensus land-cover maps (Tuanmu et al. 2014) and then cropped to selected terrestrial ecoregions (Dinerstein et al. 2017) at 30 arc seconds spatial resolution. Ecoregions were selected if: i) their descriptions mentioned features consistent with those identified in the profile of the Ecosystem Functional Group; and ii) if their location was consistent with the ecological drivers described in the profile. Open image full size.

Datasets

  • EarthEnv-LandCover-v1.0
  • Resolve-Ecoregions-2017

Map references

  • Tuanmu, M.-N. and W. Jetz (2014) A global 1-km consensus land-cover product for biodiversity and ecosystem modeling Global Ecology and Biogeography 23(9):1031–1045 DOI:10.1111/geb.12182

  • Dinerstein E, Olson D, Joshi A, Vynne C, Burgess ND, Wikramanayake E, Hahn N, Palminteri S, Hedao P, Noss R, Hansen M, Locke H, Ellis EE, Jones B, Barber CV, Hayes R, Kormos C, Martin V, Crist E, Sechrest W, Price L, Baillie JEM, Weeden D, Suckling K, Davis C, Sizer N, Moore R, Thau D, Birch T, Potapov P, Turubanova S, Tyukavina A, de Souza N, Pintea L, Brito JC, Llewellyn Barnekow Lillesø JP, van Breugel P, Graudal L, Voge M, Al-Shammari KF, Saleem M (2017) An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm, BioScience 67: 534–545. DOI:10.1093/biosci/bix014. Data-set available on-line

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