| 1. |
- 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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| 2. |
- 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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| 3. |
- Myers-Smith, Isla H., et al.
(författare)
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Complexity revealed in the greening of the Arctic
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nature Climate Change. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1758-678X .- 1758-6798. ; 10:2, s. 106-117
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- As the Arctic warms, vegetation is responding, and satellite measures indicate widespread greening at high latitudes. This ‘greening of the Arctic’ is among the world’s most important large-scale ecological responses to global climate change. However, a consensus is emerging that the underlying causes and future dynamics of so-called Arctic greening and browning trends are more complex, variable and inherently scale-dependent than previously thought. Here we summarize the complexities of observing and interpreting high-latitude greening to identify priorities for future research. Incorporating satellite and proximal remote sensing with in-situ data, while accounting for uncertainties and scale issues, will advance the study of past, present and future Arctic vegetation change.
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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. |
- 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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| 6. |
- 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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| 7. |
- Björk, Robert G., 1974, et al.
(författare)
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Long-term warming effects on carbon and nitrogen dynamics in tundra soils
- 2012
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Ingår i: 20th Anniversary ITEX Workshop, El Paso, USA, 17–21 January 2012.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- During IPY 2008 we used the ITEX experiment in Latnjajaure (northern Sweden), established during the early years of the program, to investigate long-term warming effects on ecosystem respiration (ER), carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) pool (including d13C and d15N), soil organic C (SOC) chemical composition, and N mineralization among plant communities. 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 19-61% non-significant increase in annual growing season ER in the OTC compared to the ambient plots over the growing season. The were distinct differences in the SOM functional composition among plant communities with c 10% more O-alkyls stored in tussock tundra than in dry meadow. The OTCs did not consistently alter the SOM composition among the vegetation types but clearly showed a trend for reduced aliphatic and O-alkyl C in the OTCs suggesting increased decomposition (or reduced inputs) of these compounds. Thus, the non-significantly higher ER may in some communities be of plant origin linked to greater plant biomass in the OTCs, and in other (e.g. tussock tundra) from increased decomposition rates. In conclusion, this study showed that 12-15 years of OTC treatment had a modest effects impact C and N dynamics in tundra soils specific to distinct plant communities.
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| 8. |
- Elmendorf, Sarah C., et al.
(författare)
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Assessments of recent tundra change based on repeated vegetation surveys.
- 2010
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Ingår i: Abstract GC53B-05 presented at 2010 Fall Meeting, AGU, San Francisco, Calif., 13-17 Dec..
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Results from experimental warming studies suggest tundra vegetation will respond rapidly and dramatically to climate warming, and indeed, NDVI data from remote sensing and repeat aerial photography suggest such changes may already be occurring. NDVI changes, however, may reflect responses to a variety of processes. Repeat measurements of permanently marked plots offer an invaluable opportunity to monitor detailed changes in vegetation composition and abundance. Here, we report results from a synthesis of repeat measurements of 195 permanent plots in Arctic and alpine tundra plant communities in North America (90 plots), Europe (82 plots), Asia (10 plots), Australia (12 plots), and Antarctica (1 plot) that were revisited at least twice between 1980 and 2010, with an average timespan of 13 years between first and last sampling periods. Annual air-temperature warming over the sampling period varied considerably among sites, ranging from slight cooling to increases of nearly 2°C per decade. In our preliminary analyses, we found significant tundra-wide increases in vegetation height as well as abundance of evergreen shrubs and graminoids, but declines in mosses. We anticipated that changes in vegetation height, abundance of deciduous shrubs, and percent of vegetated ground would be highest in areas where climate warming is occurring most rapidly, but found no support for these predictions in our observational dataset. It is possible that local vegetation dynamics in these areas are affected more by other longer-term non-equilibrium processes such as recovery from glaciation, or an alternative suite of local drivers, such as snow cover, precipitation, disturbance or herbivory.
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| 9. |
- Elmendorf, Sarah C., et al.
(författare)
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Plant communities in a warming tundra: a synthesis of experimental and monitoring plot data.
- 2011
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Ingår i: 29th Oikos meeting, Tjärnö, Sweden, 7-9 February 2011.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Remote sensing data indicate that rapid and dramatic changes in tundra vegetation data may already be occurring over much of the Arctic. Repeat measurements of long-term warming experiments and permanently marked monitoring plots offer invaluable opportunities to hone predictions about future climate impacts and assess recent change. Here, we report results from two synthesis projects with sites spanning North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Antarctica. Data sets include 59 warming experiments up to 20 years in length, as well as observational data from 156 tundra vegetation monitoring studies, conducted in 43 sites, over a 5-25 year period. Experimental data confirmed that warming increases the height of vascular plant groups and the abundance of deciduous shrubs, but longer-term experiments suggest some vegetation responses may not be sustained. Monitoring plots showed some indications of tundra greening over time, but links between temporal vegetation change and the degree of ambient climate change at the study site were weak.
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