Giblin, A. E., K. J. Nadelhoffer, G. R. Shaver, J. A. Laundre and A. J. McKerrow. 1991. Biogeochemical diversity along a riverside toposequence in arctic Alaska. Ecological Monographs 61:415-436.
Nitrogen and phosphorus pool sizes, distribution, and cycling rates were described and compared for six different ecosystem types occurring along a single toposequence in northern Alaska. The toposequence was located on a series of old floodplains of the Sagavanirktok River, in the northern foothills of the Brooks Range. From tussock tundra in the uplands, the toposequence passed through a relatively dry hilltop heath zone, a hillslope shrub/lupine/Cassiope zone, a footslope Equisetum zone, a wet sedge tundra, and a riparian shrub zone. A late-melting snowbank covered the hillslope site in early June of each year, and the sites consistently varied in soil temperature, soil moisture, thaw depth, and the seasonal pattern of soil thaw. The standing stocks of N, P, and C in soils of these six ecosystem types varied dramatically but not monotonically along the toposequence, as did the turnover rates of these elements.