Constraints to Ecosystem Development in High Arctic Polar Deserts

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9300045 Bliss Research outlined here is a continuation of a study initiated in 1991 on the barren, upland plateau on Devon Island, Canada. This research focuses upon the interactive roles of soil development, and cryptogamic crust and vascular plant establishment and function in the formation of polar deserts. Research on the macroscale landscape features of crusted and non-crusted sites will continue. This study will be expanded to include the mesoscale features of stone nets and stripes and the role these features play in soil weathering processes, the establishment and nitrogen fixation of cryptogamic crusts, and the transfer of nitrogen from crusts to soils and vascular plants. The the physiological and biomechanical adaptations of root systems to cold, nutrient-poor, frosty disturbed soils, and the role of carbon accumulation and water rleations of seedlings and adults will be studied as these aspects relate to the limited role of vascular plants within vast areas of polar desert. The large year to year variability provides clues on how this highly stressful system may respond to longer term climate change. Better understanding the response to climate change of extensive, but little understood polar desert systems will contribute significantly to program goals related to the effect of global changes in the arctic polar environment. ***