| 1. |
- Thomas, H. J. D., et al.
(författare)
-
Global plant trait relationships extend to the climatic extremes of the tundra biome
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2041-1723. ; 11:1
-
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.
|
|
| 2. |
- Soininen, E.M., et al.
(författare)
-
Location of studies and evidence of effects of herbivory on Arctic vegetation: a systematic map
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Environmental Evidence. - : BioMed Central (BMC). - 2047-2382. ; 10:1
-
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.
|
|
| 3. |
- Lembrechts, Jonas J., et al.
(författare)
-
SoilTemp : A global database of near-surface temperature
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Global Change Biology. - : Wiley. - 1354-1013 .- 1365-2486. ; 26:11, s. 6616-6629
-
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.
|
|
| 4. |
- Awuah, Joana, et al.
(författare)
-
Can seasonal fire management reduce the risk of carbon loss from wildfires in a protected Guinea savanna?
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Ecosphere. - : Wiley. - 2150-8925 .- 2150-8925. ; 13:11
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Fire is fundamental to the functioning of tropical savannas and routinely used as a management tool. Shifting prescribed burning from later to earlier in the growing season has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, large uncertainties surround the impact of seasonal burning on longer term plant and soil carbon sequestration. In this study, we quantify ecosystem carbon storage across burn seasons and histories in a wet-to-mesic Guinea tropical savanna in Mole National Park, Ghana. Aboveground (plant and litter) and belowground (soil plus roots) carbon storage was quantified across four burning seasons and histories: recent (<3 years) early-season burns, recent late-season burns, old (>4 years) late-season burns, and long-unburned (>15 years) sites. We found that recent late-season burns significantly lowered belowground carbon storage to a depth of 17 cm compared with all other burn seasons and histories. Belowground carbon was 1.2 kg C m−2, or 27% lower, for recent late-season burns compared with prescribed early-season burns. However, in older late-season burns sites, belowground carbon “recovered” after 4–13 burn years to comparable storage as long-unburned and early-season burn sites. For most aboveground carbon pools, there was no significant difference in carbon storage across burn seasons and histories, except higher aboveground tree carbon in long-unburned sites. We suggest that observed changes in belowground carbon are likely due to the turnover and production of root carbon. Prescribed early-season burning is promoted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and our findings affirm that early-season burning has limited impact on plant and soil carbon stocks compared with long-unburned sites. While early-season burning regimes will have some patches that become late-season wildfires, our results suggest on balance early-season burning regimes are a low-risk land management practice in reducing plant and soil carbon storage losses and sustaining a patch-mosaicked landscape with multiple other ecosystem service benefits for savannas.
|
|
