Groff Dulcinea V, Hamley Kit M, Lessard Trevor J R, Greenawalt Kayla E, Yasuhara Moriaki, Brickle Paul, Gill Jacquelyn L
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming 82071, USA.
School of Biology and Ecology, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA.
Sci Adv. 2020 Oct 23;6(43). doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abb2788. Print 2020 Oct.
The coastal tussac () grasslands of the Falkland Islands are a critical seabird breeding habitat but have been drastically reduced by grazing and erosion. Meanwhile, the sensitivity of seabirds and tussac to climate change is unknown because of a lack of long-term records in the South Atlantic. Our 14,000-year multiproxy record reveals an ecosystem state shift following seabird establishment 5000 years ago, as marine-derived nutrients from guano facilitated tussac establishment, peat productivity, and increased fire. Seabird arrival coincided with regional cooling, suggesting that the Falkland Islands are a cold-climate refugium. Conservation efforts focusing on tussac restoration should include this terrestrial-marine linkage, although a warming Southern Ocean calls into question the long-term viability of the Falkland Islands as habitat for low-latitude seabirds.
福克兰群岛沿海的图萨克草原有是海鸟重要的繁殖栖息地，但因过度放牧和侵蚀已大幅减少。与此同时，由于南大西洋缺乏长期记录，海鸟和图萨克草对气候变化的敏感性尚不清楚。我们长达14000年的多指标记录显示，5000年前海鸟在此定居后生态系统状态发生了转变，因为海鸟粪便中来自海洋的养分促进了图萨克草的生长、泥炭的生产力，并增加了火灾发生频率。海鸟的到来与区域降温同时出现，这表明福克兰群岛是一个寒冷气候的避难所。尽管南大洋变暖使福克兰群岛作为低纬度海鸟栖息地的长期可行性受到质疑，但致力于图萨克草原恢复的保护工作应考虑这种陆地与海洋的联系。
