1. |
- Thomas, H. J. D., et al.
(författare)
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Global plant trait relationships extend to the climatic extremes of the tundra biome
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2041-1723. ; 11:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The majority of variation in six traits critical to the growth, survival and reproduction of plant species is thought to be organised along just two dimensions, corresponding to strategies of plant size and resource acquisition. However, it is unknown whether global plant trait relationships extend to climatic extremes, and if these interspecific relationships are confounded by trait variation within species. We test whether trait relationships extend to the cold extremes of life on Earth using the largest database of tundra plant traits yet compiled. We show that tundra plants demonstrate remarkably similar resource economic traits, but not size traits, compared to global distributions, and exhibit the same two dimensions of trait variation. Three quarters of trait variation occurs among species, mirroring global estimates of interspecific trait variation. Plant trait relationships are thus generalizable to the edge of global trait-space, informing prediction of plant community change in a warming world.
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2. |
- Maes, S.L., et al.
(författare)
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Environmental drivers of increased ecosystem respiration in a warming tundra
- 2024
-
Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Nature. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 629:8010, s. 105-113
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems are large reservoirs of organic carbon. Climate warming may stimulate ecosystem respiration and release carbon into the atmosphere. The magnitude and persistency of this stimulation and the environmental mechanisms that drive its variation remain uncertain. This hampers the accuracy of global land carbon–climate feedback projections. Here we synthesize 136 datasets from 56 open-top chamber in situ warming experiments located at 28 arctic and alpine tundra sites which have been running for less than 1 year up to 25 years. We show that a mean rise of 1.4 °C [confidence interval (CI) 0.9–2.0 °C] in air and 0.4 °C [CI 0.2–0.7 °C] in soil temperature results in an increase in growing season ecosystem respiration by 30% [CI 22–38%] (n = 136). Our findings indicate that the stimulation of ecosystem respiration was due to increases in both plant-related and microbial respiration (n = 9) and continued for at least 25 years (n = 136). The magnitude of the warming effects on respiration was driven by variation in warming-induced changes in local soil conditions, that is, changes in total nitrogen concentration and pH and by context-dependent spatial variation in these conditions, in particular total nitrogen concentration and the carbon:nitrogen ratio. Tundra sites with stronger nitrogen limitations and sites in which warming had stimulated plant and microbial nutrient turnover seemed particularly sensitive in their respiration response to warming. The results highlight the importance of local soil conditions and warming-induced changes therein for future climatic impacts on respiration.
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3. |
- Thomas, H. J.D., et al.
(författare)
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Traditional plant functional groups explain variation in economic but not size-related traits across the tundra biome
- 2019
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Ingår i: Global Ecology and Biogeography. - : Wiley. - 1466-822X .- 1466-8238. ; 28:2, s. 78-95
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- © 2018 The Authors Global Ecology and Biogeography Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd Aim: Plant functional groups are widely used in community ecology and earth system modelling to describe trait variation within and across plant communities. However, this approach rests on the assumption that functional groups explain a large proportion of trait variation among species. We test whether four commonly used plant functional groups represent variation in six ecologically important plant traits. Location: Tundra biome. Time period: Data collected between 1964 and 2016. Major taxa studied: 295 tundra vascular plant species. Methods: We compiled a database of six plant traits (plant height, leaf area, specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, leaf nitrogen, seed mass) for tundra species. We examined the variation in species-level trait expression explained by four traditional functional groups (evergreen shrubs, deciduous shrubs, graminoids, forbs), and whether variation explained was dependent upon the traits included in analysis. We further compared the explanatory power and species composition of functional groups to alternative classifications generated using post hoc clustering of species-level traits. Results: Traditional functional groups explained significant differences in trait expression, particularly amongst traits associated with resource economics, which were consistent across sites and at the biome scale. However, functional groups explained 19% of overall trait variation and poorly represented differences in traits associated with plant size. Post hoc classification of species did not correspond well with traditional functional groups, and explained twice as much variation in species-level trait expression. Main conclusions: Traditional functional groups only coarsely represent variation in well-measured traits within tundra plant communities, and better explain resource economic traits than size-related traits. We recommend caution when using functional group approaches to predict tundra ecosystem change, or ecosystem functions relating to plant size, such as albedo or carbon storage. We argue that alternative classifications or direct use of specific plant traits could provide new insight into ecological prediction and modelling.
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4. |
- Elmendorf, Sarah C., et al.
(författare)
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Plot-scale evidence of tundra vegetation change and links to recent summer warming
- 2012
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Ingår i: Nature Climate Change. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 1758-678X .- 1758-6798. ; 2:6, s. 453-457
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Temperature is increasing at unprecedented rates across most of the tundra biome. Remote-sensing data indicate that contemporary climate warming has already resulted in increased productivity over much of the Arctic, but plot-based evidence for vegetation transformation is not widespread. We analysed change in tundra vegetation surveyed between 1980 and 2010 in 158 plant communities spread across 46 locations.We found biome-wide trends of increased height of the plant canopy and maximum observed plant height for most vascular growth forms; increased abundance of litter; increased abundance of evergreen, low-growing and tall shrubs; and decreased abundance of bare ground. Intersite comparisons indicated an association between the degree of summer warming and change in vascular plant abundance, with shrubs, forbs and rushes increasing with warming. However, the association was dependent on the climate zone, the moisture regime and the presence of permafrost. Our data provide plot-scale evidence linking changes in vascular plant abundance to local summer warming in widely dispersed tundra locations across the globe.
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5. |
- Lembrechts, Jonas J., et al.
(författare)
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SoilTemp : A global database of near-surface temperature
- 2020
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Ingår i: Global Change Biology. - : Wiley. - 1354-1013 .- 1365-2486. ; 26:11, s. 6616-6629
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Current analyses and predictions of spatially explicit patterns and processes in ecology most often rely on climate data interpolated from standardized weather stations. This interpolated climate data represents long-term average thermal conditions at coarse spatial resolutions only. Hence, many climate-forcing factors that operate at fine spatiotemporal resolutions are overlooked. This is particularly important in relation to effects of observation height (e.g. vegetation, snow and soil characteristics) and in habitats varying in their exposure to radiation, moisture and wind (e.g. topography, radiative forcing or cold-air pooling). Since organisms living close to the ground relate more strongly to these microclimatic conditions than to free-air temperatures, microclimatic ground and near-surface data are needed to provide realistic forecasts of the fate of such organisms under anthropogenic climate change, as well as of the functioning of the ecosystems they live in. To fill this critical gap, we highlight a call for temperature time series submissions to SoilTemp, a geospatial database initiative compiling soil and near-surface temperature data from all over the world. Currently, this database contains time series from 7,538 temperature sensors from 51 countries across all key biomes. The database will pave the way toward an improved global understanding of microclimate and bridge the gap between the available climate data and the climate at fine spatiotemporal resolutions relevant to most organisms and ecosystem processes.
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6. |
- Björkman, Anne, 1981, et al.
(författare)
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Plant functional trait change across a warming tundra biome
- 2018
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 562:7725, s. 57-62
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The tundra is warming more rapidly than any other biome on Earth, and the potential ramifications are far-reaching because of global feedback effects between vegetation and climate. A better understanding of how environmental factors shape plant structure and function is crucial for predicting the consequences of environmental change for ecosystem functioning. Here we explore the biome-wide relationships between temperature, moisture and seven key plant functional traits both across space and over three decades of warming at 117 tundra locations. Spatial temperature–trait relationships were generally strong but soil moisture had a marked influence on the strength and direction of these relationships, highlighting the potentially important influence of changes in water availability on future trait shifts in tundra plant communities. Community height increased with warming across all sites over the past three decades, but other traits lagged far behind predicted rates of change. Our findings highlight the challenge of using space-for-time substitution to predict the functional consequences of future warming and suggest that functions that are tied closely to plant height will experience the most rapid change. They also reveal the strength with which environmental factors shape biotic communities at the coldest extremes of the planet and will help to improve projections of functional changes in tundra ecosystems with climate warming.
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7. |
- Björkman, Anne, 1981, et al.
(författare)
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Tundra Trait Team: A database of plant traits spanning the tundra biome
- 2018
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Ingår i: Global Ecology and Biogeography. - : Wiley. - 1466-822X .- 1466-8238. ; 27:12, s. 1402-1411
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- © 2018 The Authors Global Ecology and Biogeography Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd Motivation: The Tundra Trait Team (TTT) database includes field-based measurements of key traits related to plant form and function at multiple sites across the tundra biome. This dataset can be used to address theoretical questions about plant strategy and trade-offs, trait–environment relationships and environmental filtering, and trait variation across spatial scales, to validate satellite data, and to inform Earth system model parameters. Main types of variable contained: The database contains 91,970 measurements of 18 plant traits. The most frequently measured traits (>1,000 observations each) include plant height, leaf area, specific leaf area, leaf fresh and dry mass, leaf dry matter content, leaf nitrogen, carbon and phosphorus content, leaf C:N and N:P, seed mass, and stem specific density. Spatial location and grain: Measurements were collected in tundra habitats in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, including Arctic sites in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Fennoscandia and Siberia, alpine sites in the European Alps, Colorado Rockies, Caucasus, Ural Mountains, Pyrenees, Australian Alps, and Central Otago Mountains (New Zealand), and sub-Antarctic Marion Island. More than 99% of observations are georeferenced. Time period and grain: All data were collected between 1964 and 2018. A small number of sites have repeated trait measurements at two or more time periods. Major taxa and level of measurement: Trait measurements were made on 978 terrestrial vascular plant species growing in tundra habitats. Most observations are on individuals (86%), while the remainder represent plot or site means or maximums per species. Software format: csv file and GitHub repository with data cleaning scripts in R; contribution to TRY plant trait database (www.try-db.org) to be included in the next version release.
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8. |
- Kikvidze, Zaal, et al.
(författare)
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The effects of foundation species on community assembly: a global study on alpine cushion plant communities
- 2015
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Ingår i: Ecology. - : Ecological Society of America. - 0012-9658. ; 96:8, s. 2064-2069
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Foundation species can change plant community structure by modulating important ecological processes such as community assembly, yet this topic is poorly understood. In alpine systems, cushion plants commonly act as foundation species by ameliorating local conditions. Here, we analyze diversity patterns of species' assembly within cushions and in adjacent surrounding open substrates (83 sites across five continents) calculating floristic dissimilarity between replicate plots, and using linear models to analyze relationships between microhabitats and species diversity. Floristic dissimilarity did not change across biogeographic regions, but was consistently lower in the cushions than in the open microhabitat. Cushion plants appear to enable recruitment of many relatively stress-intolerant species that otherwise would not establish in these communities, yet the niche space constructed by cushion plants supports a more homogeneous composition of species than the niche space beyond the cushion's influence. As a result, cushion plants support higher α-diversity and a larger species pool, but harbor assemblies with lower ?-diversity than open microhabitats. We conclude that habitats with and without dominant foundation species can strongly differ in the processes that drive species recruitment, and thus the relationship between local and regional species diversity.
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9. |
- Prevéy, Janet S., et al.
(författare)
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The tundra phenology database: more than two decades of tundra phenology responses to climate change
- 2022
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Ingår i: Arctic Science. - : Canadian Science Publishing. - 2368-7460. ; 8:3, s. 1026-1039
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Observations of changes in phenology have provided some of the strongest signals of the effects of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems. The International Tundra Experiment (ITEX), initiated in the early 1990s, established a common protocol to measure plant phenology in tundra study areas across the globe. Today, this valuable collec-tion of phenology measurements depicts the responses of plants at the colder extremes of our planet to experimental and ambient changes in temperature over the past decades. The database contains 150 434 phenology observations of 278 plant species taken at 28 study areas for periods of 1–26 years. Here we describe the full data set to increase the visibility and use of these data in global analyses and to invite phenology data contributions from underrepresented tundra locations. Portions of this tundra phenology database have been used in three recent syntheses, some data sets are expanded, others are from entirely new study areas, and the entirety of these data are now available at the Polar Data Catalogue (https://doi.org/10.21963/13215).
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10. |
- Soininen, E.M., et al.
(författare)
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Location of studies and evidence of effects of herbivory on Arctic vegetation: a systematic map
- 2021
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Ingår i: Environmental Evidence. - : BioMed Central (BMC). - 2047-2382. ; 10:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Herbivores modify the structure and function of tundra ecosystems. Understanding their impacts is necessary to assess the responses of these ecosystems to ongoing environmental changes. However, the effects of herbivores on plants and ecosystem structure and function vary across the Arctic. Strong spatial variation in herbivore effects implies that the results of individual studies on herbivory depend on local conditions, i.e., their ecological context. An important first step in assessing whether generalizable conclusions can be produced is to identify the existing studies and assess how well they cover the underlying environmental conditions across the Arctic. This systematic map aims to identify the ecological contexts in which herbivore impacts on vegetation have been studied in the Arctic. Specifically, the primary question of the systematic map was: “What evidence exists on the effects of herbivores on Arctic vegetation?”.Methods: We used a published systematic map protocol to identify studies addressing the effects of herbivores on Arctic vegetation. We conducted searches for relevant literature in online databases, search engines and specialist websites. Literature was screened to identify eligible studies, defined as reporting primary data on herbivore impacts on Arctic plants and plant communities. We extracted information on variables that describe the ecological context of the studies, from the studies themselves and from geospatial data. We synthesized the findings narratively and created a Shiny App where the coded data are searchable and variables can be visually explored.Review findings: We identified 309 relevant articles with 662 studies (representing different ecological contexts or datasets within the same article). These studies addressed vertebrate herbivory seven times more often than invertebrate herbivory. Geographically, the largest cluster of studies was in Northern Fennoscandia. Warmer and wetter parts of the Arctic had the largest representation, as did coastal areas and areas where the increase in temperature has been moderate. In contrast, studies spanned the full range of ecological context variables describing Arctic vertebrate herbivore diversity and human population density and impact.Conclusions: The current evidence base might not be sufficient to understand the effects of herbivores on Arctic vegetation throughout the region, as we identified clear biases in the distribution of herbivore studies in the Arctic and a limited evidence base on invertebrate herbivory. In particular, the overrepresentation of studies in areas with moderate increases in temperature prevents robust generalizations about the effects of herbivores under different climatic scenarios.
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11. |
- Andresen, Louise C., 1974, et al.
(författare)
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Free amino acids in the rhizosphere
- 2014
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Ingår i: 19th European Nitrogen Cycle Meeting. September 10-12th 2014, Gent, Belgium.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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12. |
- Andresen, Louise C., 1974, et al.
(författare)
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Patterns of free amino acids in tundra soils reflect mycorrhizal type, shrubification, and warming
- 2022
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Ingår i: Mycorrhiza. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0940-6360 .- 1432-1890. ; 32:3-4, s. 305-313
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The soil nitrogen (N) cycle in cold terrestrial ecosystems is slow and organically bound N is an important source of N for plants in these ecosystems. Many plant species can take up free amino acids from these infertile soils, either directly or indirectly via their mycorrhizal fungi. We hypothesized that plant community changes and local plant community differences will alter the soil free amino acid pool and composition; and that long-term warming could enhance this effect. To test this, we studied the composition of extractable free amino acids at five separate heath, meadow, and bog locations in subarctic and alpine Scandinavia, with long-term (13 to 24 years) warming manipulations. The plant communities all included a mixture of ecto-, ericoid-, and arbuscular mycorrhizal plant species. Vegetation dominated by grasses and forbs with arbuscular and non-mycorrhizal associations showed highest soil free amino acid content, distinguishing them from the sites dominated by shrubs with ecto- and ericoid-mycorrhizal associations. Warming increased shrub and decreased moss cover at two sites, and by using redundancy analysis, we found that altered soil free amino acid composition was related to this plant cover change. From this, we conclude that the mycorrhizal type is important in controlling soil N cycling and that expansion of shrubs with ectomycorrhiza (and to some extent ericoid mycorrhiza) can help retain N within the ecosystems by tightening the N cycle.
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13. |
- Björk, Robert G., 1974, et al.
(författare)
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Climate-related soil changes in tundra ecosystems at Latnjajaure, northern Sweden – an ITEX-IPY project
- 2010
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Ingår i: International Polar Year Oslo Science Conference.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- During the 90'ies, the International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) was established as a leading project in arctic and alpine ecology, and has become a model for many later network establishments. The present study capitalizes on the early efforts of ITEX and aims at assessing ecosystem changes in the alpine areas of northern Sweden above timberline, i.e. the tundra, in relation to global change. By using the "old" ITEX plots established during the early years of the program we have measured ecosystem respiration (ER), the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, and nitrogen (N) mineralization over the growing season. In addition, have soil samples been taken to quantify changes in the carbon (C) and N pool, including 13C and 15N. After 12 to 15 years of open top chamber (OTC) treatment no statistical effect was found on the soil temperature (10 cm soil depth), although the was an overall increase in all OTC by +0.2°C. However, the soil moisture decreased significantly by 3-14%, depending on plant community, in the OTCs compared to ambient conditions. Preliminary, there was a 20-37% non-significant higher mean ER in the OTC compared to the ambient plots over the growing season. Furthermore, the OTC treatment did not affect the growing season mineralization of inorganic N, or total C and N content of the soil. The stable isotope data showed both enrichment and depletion as a consequence of the OTC treatment, but no general pattern was discerned. Thus, this non-significant higher ER is most likely of plant origin than soil, as the plant standing biomass has increased in the OTCs. This study does not support the current consensus that tundra soils will alter their C and N dynamics in response to climate change.
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14. |
- Butterfield, B. J., et al.
(författare)
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Alpine cushion plants inhibit the loss of phylogenetic diversity in severe environments
- 2013
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Ingår i: Ecology Letters. - : Wiley. - 1461-0248 .- 1461-023X. ; 16:4, s. 478-486
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Biotic interactions can shape phylogenetic community structure (PCS). However, we do not know how the asymmetric effects of foundation species on communities extend to effects on PCS. We assessed PCS of alpine plant communities around the world, both within cushion plant foundation species and adjacent open ground, and compared the effects of foundation species and climate on alpha (within-microsite), beta (between open and cushion) and gamma (open and cushion combined) PCS. In the open, alpha PCS shifted from highly related to distantly related with increasing potential productivity. However, we found no relationship between gamma PCS and climate, due to divergence in phylogenetic composition between cushion and open sub-communities in severe environments, as demonstrated by increasing phylo-beta diversity. Thus, foundation species functioned as micro-refugia by facilitating less stress-tolerant lineages in severe environments, erasing a global productivity – phylogenetic diversity relationship that would go undetected without accounting for this important biotic interaction.
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15. |
- Cavieres, Lohengrin A., et al.
(författare)
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Facilitative plant interactions and climate simultaneously drive alpine plant diversity
- 2014
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Ingår i: Ecology Letters. - : Wiley. - 1461-0248 .- 1461-023X. ; 17:2, s. 193-202
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Interactions among species determine local-scale diversity, but local interactions are thought to have minor effects at larger scales. However, quantitative comparisons of the importance of biotic interactions relative to other drivers are rarely made at larger scales. Using a data set spanning 78 sites and five continents, we assessed the relative importance of biotic interactions and climate in determining plant diversity in alpine ecosystems dominated by nurse-plant cushion species. Climate variables related with water balance showed the highest correlation with richness at the global scale. Strikingly, although the effect of cushion species on diversity was lower than that of climate, its contribution was still substantial. In particular, cushion species enhanced species richness more in systems with inherently impoverished local diversity. Nurse species appear to act as a ‘safety net’ sustaining diversity under harsh conditions, demonstrating that climate and species interactions should be integrated when predicting future biodiversity effects of climate change.
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16. |
- Elmendorf, Sarah C., et al.
(författare)
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Global assessment of experimental climate warming on tundra vegetation : heterogeneity over space and time
- 2012
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Ingår i: Ecology Letters. - : Wiley. - 1461-023X .- 1461-0248. ; 15:2, s. 164-175
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Understanding the sensitivity of tundra vegetation to climate warming is critical to forecasting future biodiversity and vegetation feedbacks to climate. In situ warming experiments accelerate climate change on a small scale to forecast responses of local plant communities. Limitations of this approach include the apparent site-specificity of results and uncertainty about the power of short-term studies to anticipate longer term change. We address these issues with a synthesis of 61 experimental warming studies, of up to 20 years duration, in tundra sites worldwide. The response of plant groups to warming often differed with ambient summer temperature, soil moisture and experimental duration. Shrubs increased with warming only where ambient temperature was high, whereas graminoids increased primarily in the coldest study sites. Linear increases in effect size over time were frequently observed. There was little indication of saturating or accelerating effects, as would be predicted if negative or positive vegetation feedbacks were common. These results indicate that tundra vegetation exhibits strong regional variation in response to warming, and that in vulnerable regions, cumulative effects of long-term warming on tundra vegetation and associated ecosystem consequences have the potential to be much greater than we have observed to date.
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17. |
- Elphinstone, Cassandra, et al.
(författare)
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Multiple Pleistocene refugia for Arctic Bell-Heather revealed with genomic analyses of modern and historic plants
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of Biogeography. - 0305-0270 .- 1365-2699.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aim: Arctic plants survived the Pleistocene glaciations in unglaciated refugia. The number, ages, and locations of these refugia are often unclear. We use high-resolution genomic data from present-day and Little-Ice-Age populations of Arctic Bell-Heather to re-evaluate the biogeography of this species and determine whether it had multiple independent refugia or a single refugium in Beringia. Location: Circumpolar Arctic and Coastal British Columbia (BC) alpine. Taxon: Cassiope tetragona L., subspecies saximontana and tetragona, outgroup C. mertensiana (Ericaceae). Methods: We built genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) libraries using Cassiope tetragona tissue from 36 Arctic locations, including two ~250- to 500-year-old populations collected under glacial ice on Ellesmere Island, Canada. We assembled a de novo GBS reference to call variants. Population structure, genetic diversity and demography were inferred from PCA, ADMIXTURE, fastsimcoal2, SplitsTree, and several population genomics statistics. Results: Population structure analyses identified 4–5 clusters that align with geographic locations. Nucleotide diversity was highest in Beringia and decreased eastwards across Canada. Demographic coalescent analyses dated the following splits with Alaska: BC subspecies saximontana (5 mya), Russia (~1.4 mya), Europe (>200–600 kya), and Greenland (~60 kya). Northern Canada populations appear to have formed during the current interglacial (7–9 kya). Admixture analyses show genetic variants from Alaska appear more frequently in present-day than historic plants on Ellesmere Island. Conclusions: Population and demographic analyses support BC, Alaska, Russia, Europe and Greenland as all having had independent Pleistocene refugia. Northern Canadian populations appear to be founded during the current interglacial with genetic contributions from Alaska, Europe and Greenland. We found evidence, on Ellesmere Island, for continued recent gene flow in the last 250–500 years. These results suggest that a re-analysis of other Arctic species with shallow population structure using higher resolution genomic markers and demographic analyses may help reveal deeper structure and other circumpolar glacial refugia.
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18. |
- Henry, Greg H.R., et al.
(författare)
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The International Tundra Experiment (ITEX): 30 years of research on tundra ecosystems
- 2022
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Ingår i: Arctic Science. - : Canadian Science Publishing. - 2368-7460. ; 8:3, s. 550-571
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) was founded in 1990 as a network of scientists studying responses of tundra ecosystems to ambient and experimental climate change at Arctic and alpine sites across the globe. Common measurement and experimental design protocols have facilitated synthesis of results across sites to gain biome-wide insights of climate change impacts on tundra. This special issue presents results from more than 30 years of ITEX research. The importance of snow regimes, bryophytes, and herbivory are highlighted, with new protocols and studies proposed. The increasing frequency and magnitude of extreme climate events is shown to have strong effects on plant reproduction. The most consistent plant trait response across sites is an increase in vegetation height, especially for shrubs. This will affect surface energy balance, carbon and nutrient dynamics and trophic level interactions. Common garden studies show adaptation responses in tundra species to climate change but they are species and regionally specific. Recommendations are made including establishing sites near northern communities to increase reciprocal engagement with local knowledge holders and establishing multi-factor experiments. The success of ITEX is based on collegial cooperation among researchers and the network remains focused on documenting and understanding impacts of environmental change on tundra ecosystems.
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19. |
- Hollister, R. D., et al.
(författare)
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A review of open top chamber (OTC) performance across the ITEX Network
- 2023
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Ingår i: Arctic Science. - : Canadian Science Publishing. - 2368-7460. ; 9:2, s. 331-344
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Open top chambers (OTCs) were adopted as the recommended warming mechanism by the International Tundra Experiment network in the early 1990s. Since then, OTCs have been deployed across the globe. Hundreds of papers have reported the im-pacts of OTCs on the abiotic environment and the biota. Here, we review the impacts of the OTC on the physical environment, with comments on the appropriateness of using OTCs to characterize the response of biota to warming. The purpose of this review is to guide readers to previously published work and to provide recommendations for continued use of OTCs to under -stand the implications of warming on low stature ecosystems. In short, the OTC is a useful tool to experimentally manipulate temperature; however, the characteristics and magnitude of warming varies greatly in different environments; therefore, it is important to document chamber performance to maximize the interpretation of biotic response. When coupled with long-term monitoring, warming experiments are a valuable means to understand the impacts of climate change on natural ecosystems.
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20. |
- Klemedtsson, Leif, 1953, et al.
(författare)
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Skogaryd – Integration of terrestrial and freshwater greenhouse gas sources and sinks
- 2010
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Ingår i: 1st COST meeting ‘Belowground carbon in Europeanforest’, Birmensdorf, Switzerland, 26–28 January 2010..
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Forests play an important role in the global carbon (C) cycle, and management as well as climate can cause major effects on the balance of C between the atmosphere and the plant/soil system. With re-gard to our commitments to the Kyoto and post-Kyoto actions on climate change, we need reliable predictions on how this balance is affected by management and climate. In 2006 the Skogaryd Research Forest was established in the southwest of Sweden (58°23’N, 12°09’E). The overall goal is to quantify net greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes from drained spruce forest, by determining the individual fluxes and pools of C and nitrogen and elucidating their connection to site fertility, drainage status and abiotic parameters and then use the generated data in GHG models, for model validations and ultimately emissions predictions. During 2006-2009 the research has fo-cused on two sites, mineral and organic, dominated by Norway spruce (Picea abies). Both sites are drained fertile soils but with different land-use history that have affected their physical properties. Measurements includes: net ecosystem exchange of CO2, Shoot photosynthesis and respiration at different locations within the canopy, stem respiration, emissions of N2O and CH4 using manual cham-bers, soil respiration with automatic chambers including a trenching experiment where root-, mycelia-, and heterotrophic respiration are separated, fine root production using minirhizotrons, and mycelia production. The organic site also includes a wood ash experiment. From 2010 the research will be expanded to the whole watershed, from the mire system via streams, riparian zones, forests, to lakes and the subsequent exchange between the atmosphere and surface waters. Different terrestrial and limnic ecosystems will be linked holistically, using site specific tech-niques at different scales, from aircraft (km2) to chambers (m2) to create integrated models that can be used to quantify net GHG flux for management strategies.
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21. |
- Metcalfe, Daniel B., et al.
(författare)
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Patchy field sampling biases understanding of climate change impacts across the Arctic
- 2018
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Ingår i: Nature Ecology and Evolution. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2397-334X. ; 2:9, s. 1443-1448
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Effective societal responses to rapid climate change in the Arctic rely on an accurate representation of region-specific ecosystem properties and processes. However, this is limited by the scarcity and patchy distribution of field measurements. Here, we use a comprehensive, geo-referenced database of primary field measurements in 1,840 published studies across the Arctic to identify statistically significant spatial biases in field sampling and study citation across this globally important region. We find that 31% of all study citations are derived from sites located within 50 km of just two research sites: Toolik Lake in the USA and Abisko in Sweden. Furthermore, relatively colder, more rapidly warming and sparsely vegetated sites are under-sampled and under-recognized in terms of citations, particularly among microbiology-related studies. The poorly sampled and cited areas, mainly in the Canadian high-Arctic archipelago and the Arctic coastline of Russia, constitute a large fraction of the Arctic ice-free land area. Our results suggest that the current pattern of sampling and citation may bias the scientific consensuses that underpin attempts to accurately predict and effectively mitigate climate change in the region. Further work is required to increase both the quality and quantity of sampling, and incorporate existing literature from poorly cited areas to generate a more representative picture of Arctic climate change and its environmental impacts.
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22. |
- Antonsson, Henrik, 1976, et al.
(författare)
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Nurse plant effect of the cushion plant Silene acaulis (L.) Jacq. in an alpine environment in the subarctic Scandes, Sweden
- 2009
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Ingår i: Plant Ecology & Diversity. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1755-0874 .- 1755-1668. ; 2:1, s. 17-25
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Facilitation plays important roles in the structuring of plant communities and several studies have found that it tends to increase with environmental severity in alpine plant communities. In addition, cushion plants have been shown to act as nurse plants, moderating extreme environmental conditions, and providing resources for other species, with substantial effects on local plant diversity. Aims: This study addresses the nurse plant effects of Silene acaulis – a common, circumpolar alpine plant species with a compact cushion-forming growth form – along an altitude transect in the mid- to high-alpine zones in northern Sweden. Methods: The numbers of species in paired S. acaulis cushions and identical-sized control plots along an altitude transect between 1150 m and 1450 m above sea level were compared, and differences in species composition were analysed. Results: At altitudes above c. 1280 m, but not at lower altitudes, more species were found inside the cushions than in their paired control plots. Species composition was similar inside cushions and in control plots. Conclusions: Our results suggest that S. acaulis acts as a nurse plant at altitudes higher than a certain threshold (c. 1280 m at the investigated site). It appears to play an important role in creating focal points for local vascular plant diversity in highalpine environments, where vegetation is open and occurs in small patches. Keywords: facilitation; plant-to-plant interactions; Silene acaulis; species richness; stress
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23. |
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24. |
- Beylich, Achim A., et al.
(författare)
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Selection of critical key test catchments
- 2007
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Ingår i: In: Beylich AA and Warburton J, eds. Analysis of Source-to-Sink-Fluxes and Sediment Budgets in Changing High-Latitude and High-Altitude Cold Environments: SEDIFLUX Manual, First Edition.. - Trondheim : Geological Survey of Norway.
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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25. |
- Björk, Robert G., 1974, et al.
(författare)
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A Climate Change aspect on root dynamics and nitrogen partitioning in a tundra landscape
- 2005
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Ingår i: Sediment budgets and rates of sediment transfer across cold environments in Europe. 3rd Workshop of the ESF Network SEDIFLUX, Durham, UK, 15 – 19 December 2005..
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) recently reported that Arctic is rapidly changing due to Climate Change. Likewise, the mountains of Europe are going to experience large shifts in plant composition and 41-56% of the alpine species might be on the edge of extinction according to the 1st synthesis of the Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA). Although the tundra ecosystems are subjected to dramatical changes as a result of Climate Change, there is little knowledge of the effect on root dynamics and its implication on the nitrifying and denitrifying microbial community. Here, we compare nitrification enzyme activity (NEA) and denitrification enzyme activity (DEA) rates along an altitudinal gradient with the effects of climatic warming using Open Top Chambers (OTCs) in consideration with root dynamics and architecture. This study was conducted at Latnjajaure Field Station (LFS) located in the midalpine region in northern Sweden. LFS is the Swedish field site for the International Tundra Experiment (ITEX), established in 1993. This gives an opportunity to investigate long-term effects of climatic warming by OTCs and an altitudinal gradient (1000m to 1365m), both within a very small geographical range. The OTCs used at LFS increases the soil surface temperature by approximately 1.5ºC whereas air temperatures normally falls with 0.6ºC with every hundred meter of increased altitude. To analyse the NEA and DEA we used an anaerobic incubation technique, based on acetylene inhibition technique, resulting in N2O as the only end product, which then were analysed by gas chromatography. Soil cores were additionally sampled in the OTCs to study the effects of climatic warming on the root system. The specific root length, root length density and root biomass were determined for the different root fractions. The results from NEA and DEA contradict each other. The gradient study show decreased NEA and DEA rates with falling altitude, whereas the warming experiment show a slight non significant increase due to the temperature enhancement by OTCs. The preliminary results from the root sampling indicate that there is a plant community specific response in root architecture, which has an output on root biomass and particularly in the fraction of fine roots, although, climatic warming did not have any significant affect on the root biomass. The fact that altitudinal temperature decline did not reduce NEA and DEA rates might in part be explained of the variables measured here, although they are not conclusive.
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