Journal ArticleDOI
The evidence for shrub expansion in Northern Alaska and the Pan‐Arctic
Reads0
Chats0
TLDR
Using 202 pairs of old and new oblique aerial photographs, this article found that across this region spanning 620 km east to west and 350 km north to south, alder, willow and dwarf birch have been increasing, with the change most easily detected on hill slopes and valley bottoms.Abstract:
One expected response to climate warming in the Arctic is an increase in the abundance and extent of shrubs in tundra areas. Repeat photography shows that there has been an increase in shrub cover over the past 50 years in northern Alaska. Using 202 pairs of old and new oblique aerial photographs, we have found that across this region spanning 620 km east to west and 350 km north to south, alder, willow, and dwarf birch have been increasing, with the change most easily detected on hill slopes and valley bottoms. Plot and remote sensing studies from the same region using the normalized difference vegetation index are consistent with the photographic results and indicate that the smaller shrubs between valleys are also increasing. In Canada, Scandinavia, and parts of Russia, there is both plot and remote sensing evidence for shrub expansion. Combined with the Alaskan results, the evidence suggests that a pan-Arctic vegetation transition is underway. If continued, this transition will alter the fundamental architecture and function of this ecosystem with important ramifications for the climate, the biota, and humans.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Ecological Dynamics Across the Arctic Associated with Recent Climate Change
Eric Post,Eric Post,Mads C. Forchhammer,M. Syndonia Bret-Harte,Terry V. Callaghan,Terry V. Callaghan,Torben R. Christensen,Bo Elberling,Bo Elberling,Anthony D. Fox,Olivier Gilg,David S. Hik,Toke T. Høye,Rolf A. Ims,Erik Jeppesen,David R. Klein,Jesper Madsen,A. David McGuire,Søren Rysgaard,Daniel E. Schindler,Ian Stirling,Mikkel P. Tamstorf,Nicholas J. C. Tyler,René van der Wal,Jeffrey M. Welker,Philip A. Wookey,Niels Martin Schmidt,Peter Aastrup +27 more
TL;DR: These rapid changes in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine systems, presage changes at lower latitudes that will affect natural resources, food production, and future climate buffering, and highlight areas of ecological research that deserve priority as the Arctic continues to warm.
Journal ArticleDOI
Shrub expansion in tundra ecosystems: dynamics, impacts and research priorities
Isla H. Myers-Smith,Isla H. Myers-Smith,Bruce C. Forbes,Martin Wilmking,Martin Hallinger,Trevor C. Lantz,Daan Blok,Ken D. Tape,Marc Macias-Fauria,Ute Sass-Klaassen,Esther Lévesque,Stéphane Boudreau,Pascale Ropars,Luise Hermanutz,Andrew J. Trant,Laura Siegwart Collier,Stef Weijers,Jelte Rozema,Shelly A. Rayback,Niels Martin Schmidt,Gabriela Schaepman-Strub,Sonja Wipf,Christian Rixen,Cécile B. Ménard,Susanna Venn,Scott J. Goetz,Laia Andreu-Hayles,Sarah C. Elmendorf,Virve Ravolainen,Jeffrey M. Welker,Paul Grogan,Howard E. Epstein,David S. Hik +32 more
TL;DR: This article used repeat photography, long-term ecological monitoring and dendrochronology to document shrub expansion in arctic, high-latitude and alpine tundra.
Journal ArticleDOI
Sensitivity of the carbon cycle in the Arctic to climate change
A. David McGuire,Leif G. Anderson,Torben R. Christensen,Scott R. Dallimore,Laodong Guo,Daniel J. Hayes,Martin Heimann,Thomas D. Lorenson,Robie W. Macdonald,Nigel T. Roulet +9 more
TL;DR: In this article, a comprehensive review of the status of the contemporary carbon cycle of the Arctic and its response to climate change is presented to clarify key uncertainties and vulnerabilities in the response of the carbon cycle in the Arctic to ongoing climatic change.
Journal ArticleDOI
Global assessment of experimental climate warming on tundra vegetation: heterogeneity over space and time.
Sarah C. Elmendorf,Gregory H. R. Henry,Robert D. Hollister,Robert G. Björk,Anne D. Bjorkman,Terry V. Callaghan,Terry V. Callaghan,Laura Siegwart Collier,Elisabeth J. Cooper,Johannes H. C. Cornelissen,Thomas A. Day,Anna Maria Fosaa,William A. Gould,Jarngerdur Gretarsdottir,John Harte,Luise Hermanutz,David S. Hik,Annika Hofgaard,Frith C. Jarrad,Ingibjörg S. Jónsdóttir,Frida Keuper,Kari Klanderud,Julia A. Klein,Saewan Koh,Gaku Kudo,Simone I. Lang,Val Loewen,Jeremy L. May,Joel Mercado,Anders Michelsen,Ulf Molau,Isla H. Myers-Smith,Steven F. Oberbauer,Sara Pieper,Eric Post,Christian Rixen,Clare H. Robinson,Niels Martin Schmidt,Gaius R. Shaver,Anna Stenström,Anne Tolvanen,Ørjan Totland,Tiffany G. Troxler,Carl-Henrik Wahren,Patrick J. Webber,Jeffery M Welker,Philip A. Wookey +46 more
TL;DR: In this article, a synthesis of 61 experimental warming studies, of up to 20 years duration, in tundra sites worldwide, was used to understand the sensitivity of tundras vegetation to climate warming and to forecast future biodiversity and vegetation feedbacks to climate.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Increased plant growth in the northern high latitudes from 1981 to 1991
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present evidence from satellite data that the photosynthetic activity of terrestrial vegetation increased from 1981 to 1991 in a manner that is suggestive of an increase in plant growth associated with a lengthening of the active growing season.
Book
Geographical ecology; patterns in the distribution of species
TL;DR: The summation of the life work of one of the most influential scientists of our time is presented in the book "Genius: A Summary of the Life Work of Thomas E. MacArthur" as mentioned in this paper.
Journal ArticleDOI
Observational evidence of recent change in the northern high-latitude environment
Mark C. Serreze,John Walsh,F. S. Chapin,T. E. Osterkamp,Mark B. Dyurgerov,Vladimir E. Romanovsky,Walter C. Oechel,James H. Morison,Tingjun Zhang,Roger G. Barry +9 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present asynthesis of these observations, and conclude that roughly half of the pronounced recent rise in Northern Hemispherewinter temperatures reflects shifts in atmosphericcirculation. But, such changes are not consistent with anthropogenic forcing and include generally positive phases of the North Atlantic and ArcticOscillations and extratropical responses to the El-NinoSouthern Oscillation.
Journal ArticleDOI
Variations in northern vegetation activity inferred from satellite data of vegetation index during 1981 to 1999
Liming Zhou,Compton J. Tucker,Robert K. Kaufmann,Daniel Slayback,N.V. Shabanov,Ranga B. Myneni +5 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present results from analyses of a recently developed satellite-sensed normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data set for the period July 1981 to December 1999, showing that about 61% of the total vegetated area between 40°N and 70°N in Eurasia shows a persistent increase in growing season NDVI over a broad contiguous swath of land from central Europe through Siberia to the Aldan plateau, where almost 58% (7.3×106 km2) is forests and woodlands.
Journal ArticleDOI
Responses of Arctic Tundra to Experimental and Observed Changes in Climate
TL;DR: In this article, the authors manipulated light, temperature, and nutrients in moist tussock tundra near Toolik Lake, Alaska to determine how global changes in these parameters might affect community and ecosystem processes.
Related Papers (5)
Climate change. Increasing shrub abundance in the Arctic.
Shrub expansion in tundra ecosystems: dynamics, impacts and research priorities
Isla H. Myers-Smith,Isla H. Myers-Smith,Bruce C. Forbes,Martin Wilmking,Martin Hallinger,Trevor C. Lantz,Daan Blok,Ken D. Tape,Marc Macias-Fauria,Ute Sass-Klaassen,Esther Lévesque,Stéphane Boudreau,Pascale Ropars,Luise Hermanutz,Andrew J. Trant,Laura Siegwart Collier,Stef Weijers,Jelte Rozema,Shelly A. Rayback,Niels Martin Schmidt,Gabriela Schaepman-Strub,Sonja Wipf,Christian Rixen,Cécile B. Ménard,Susanna Venn,Scott J. Goetz,Laia Andreu-Hayles,Sarah C. Elmendorf,Virve Ravolainen,Jeffrey M. Welker,Paul Grogan,Howard E. Epstein,David S. Hik +32 more
Role of Land-Surface Changes in Arctic Summer Warming
F. S. Chapin,Matthew Sturm,Mark C. Serreze,Joe McFadden,Jeffrey R. Key,Andrea H. Lloyd,A. D. McGuire,T.S. Rupp,Amanda H. Lynch,Joshua P. Schimel,Jason Beringer,William L. Chapman,Howard E. Epstein,Eugénie S. Euskirchen,Larry D. Hinzman,Gensuo Jia,Chien-Lu Ping,Ken D. Tape,Catharine C. Thompson,Donald A. Walker,Jeffrey M. Welker +20 more
Plant community responses to experimental warming across the tundra biome
Marilyn D. Walker,C. Henrik Wahren,Robert D. Hollister,Greg H. R. Henry,Lorraine E. Ahlquist,Juha M. Alatalo,M. Syndonia Bret-Harte,Monika P. Calef,Terry V. Callaghan,Amy B Carroll,Howard E. Epstein,Ingibjörg S. Jónsdóttir,Julia A. Klein,Borgthor Magnusson,Ulf Molau,Steven F. Oberbauer,Steven P. Rewa,Clare H. Robinson,Gaius R. Shaver,Katharine N. Suding,Catharine C. Thompson,Anne Tolvanen,Ørjan Totland,P. Lee Turner,Craig E. Tweedie,P. J. Webber,Philip A. Wookey +26 more