| 1. |
- Rixen, C., et al.
(author)
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Winters are changing: snow effects on Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems
- 2022
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In: Arctic Science. - : Canadian Science Publishing. - 2368-7460. ; 8:3, s. 572-608
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Snow is an important driver of ecosystem processes in cold biomes. Snow accumulation determines ground temperature, light conditions, and moisture availability during winter. It also affects the growing season's start and end, and plant access to moisture and nutrients. Here, we review the current knowledge of the snow cover's role for vegetation, plant-animal interactions, permafrost conditions, microbial processes, and biogeochemical cycling. We also compare studies of natural snow gradients with snow experimental manipulation studies to assess time scale difference of these approaches. The number of tundra snow studies has increased considerably in recent years, yet we still lack a comprehensive overview of how altered snow conditions will affect these ecosystems. Specifically, we found a mismatch in the timing of snowmelt when comparing studies of natural snow gradients with snow manipulations. We found that snowmelt timing achieved by snow addition and snow removal manipulations (average 7.9 days advance and 5.5 days delay, respectively) were substantially lower than the temporal variation over natural spatial gradients within a given year (mean range 56 days) or among years (mean range 32 days). Differences between snow study approaches need to be accounted for when projecting snow dynamics and their impact on ecosystems in future climates.
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| 2. |
- Balogianni, Vasiliki G., et al.
(author)
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Root production in contrasting ecosystems : the impact of rhizotron sampling frequency
- 2016
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In: Plant Ecology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1385-0237 .- 1573-5052. ; 217:11, s. 1359-1367
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Despite their critical role in every terrestrial ecosystem, fine root production and mortality have not been widely compared among systems due to the practical difficulties of belowground research. We examined fine root production and mortality among five contrasting sites: native and invaded grassland in eastern Montana, USA, aspen forest in southern Saskatchewan, Canada, and birch forest and tundra in northern Sweden. Additionally, we investigated the importance of minirhizotron sampling interval on measures of root production and mortality by comparing measures produced from 1-, 7-, 14-, and 21-day sample intervals. Root length and mortality varied significantly among sites, with invaded grassland having the greatest root length (> 2 x than any other site) and significantly greater root mortality than native grassland (54 %). In contrast, there were no significant differences in root production among the sites. Sample interval had no significant influence on root production or mortality. Minirhizotron sampling intervals up to 3 weeks did not underestimate the measures of root production and mortality in comparison to measures derived from shorter sampling intervals, regardless of the site studied. The results suggest that 3 weeks can be an accurate and efficient sample interval when studying root production and mortality with minirhizotrons.
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| 3. |
- Keuper, Frida, et al.
(author)
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Carbon loss from northern circumpolar permafrost soils amplified by rhizosphere priming
- 2020
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In: Nature Geoscience. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1752-0894 .- 1752-0908. ; 13, s. 560-565
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- As global temperatures continue to rise, a key uncertainty of climate projections is the microbial decomposition of vast organic carbon stocks in thawing permafrost soils. Decomposition rates can accelerate up to fourfold in the presence of plant roots, and this mechanism-termed the rhizosphere priming effect-may be especially relevant to thawing permafrost soils as rising temperatures also stimulate plant productivity in the Arctic. However, priming is currently not explicitly included in any model projections of future carbon losses from the permafrost area. Here, we combine high-resolution spatial and depth-resolved datasets of key plant and permafrost properties with empirical relationships of priming effects from living plants on microbial respiration. We show that rhizosphere priming amplifies overall soil respiration in permafrost-affected ecosystems by similar to 12%, which translates to a priming-induced absolute loss of similar to 40 Pg soil carbon from the northern permafrost area by 2100. Our findings highlight the need to include fine-scale ecological interactions in order to accurately predict large-scale greenhouse gas emissions, and suggest even tighter restrictions on the estimated 200 Pg anthropogenic carbon emission budget to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees C.
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| 4. |
- Kropp, Heather, et al.
(author)
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Shallow soils are warmer under trees and tall shrubs across Arctic and Boreal ecosystems
- 2021
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In: Environmental Research Letters. - : IOP Publishing. - 1748-9326. ; 16:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Soils are warming as air temperatures rise across the Arctic and Boreal region concurrent with the expansion of tall-statured shrubs and trees in the tundra. Changes in vegetation structure and function are expected to alter soil thermal regimes, thereby modifying climate feedbacks related to permafrost thaw and carbon cycling. However, current understanding of vegetation impacts on soil temperature is limited to local or regional scales and lacks the generality necessary to predict soil warming and permafrost stability on a pan-Arctic scale. Here we synthesize shallow soil and air temperature observations with broad spatial and temporal coverage collected across 106 sites representing nine different vegetation types in the permafrost region. We showed ecosystems with tall-statured shrubs and trees (>40 cm) have warmer shallow soils than those with short-statured tundra vegetation when normalized to a constant air temperature. In tree and tall shrub vegetation types, cooler temperatures in the warm season do not lead to cooler mean annual soil temperature indicating that ground thermal regimes in the cold-season rather than the warm-season are most critical for predicting soil warming in ecosystems underlain by permafrost. Our results suggest that the expansion of tall shrubs and trees into tundra regions can amplify shallow soil warming, and could increase the potential for increased seasonal thaw depth and increase soil carbon cycling rates and lead to increased carbon dioxide loss and further permafrost thaw.
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