Successional trends and processes on a glacial foreland in Southern Iceland studied by repeated species counts

Introduction Primary succession on glacial forelands is increasingly relevant as rapid glacial retreat is exposing growing land areas to plant colonization. We investigated temporal trends, controls, and outcomes in floral succession on a subarctic glacial foreland. Specifically, we examined changes in community composition (mosses, low shrubs, forbs, trees, and graminoids) over long-term (decadal) and short-term (< 10 years) scales and attempted to identify the underlying processes responsible for the observed successional patterns.