Directional change in upland tundra plant communities 20‐30 years after seismic exploration in the Canadian low‐arctic

Kemper, J. Todd; Macdonald, S. Ellen

doi:10.1111/j.1654-1103.2009.01069.x

Cited by 51 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…This grass species might be an indicator of recent abrupt thawing of the permafrost. A. latifolia has earlier been identified as a species that responds to disturbances (Kemper and Macdonald 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thaw pond development and initial vegetation succession in experimental plots at a Siberian lowland tundra site

Heijmans

Blok

et al. 2017

Plant Soil

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Background and aims Permafrost degradation has the potential to change the Arctic tundra landscape. We observed rapid local thawing of ice-rich permafrost resulting in thaw pond formation, which was triggered by removal of the shrub cover in a field experiment. This study aimed to examine the rate of permafrost thaw and the initial vegetation succession after the permafrost collapse.Methods In the experiment, we measured changes in soil thaw depth, plant species cover and soil subsidence over nine years (2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015). Results After abrupt initial thaw, soil subsidence in the removal plots continued indicating further thawing of permafrost albeit at a much slower pace: 1 cm y −1 over 2012-2015 vs. 5 cm y −1 over 2007-2012. Grass cover strongly increased after the initial shrub removal, but later declined with ponding of water in the subsiding removal plots. Sedges established and expanded in the wetter removal plots. Thereby, the removal plots have become increasingly similar to nearby 'natural' thaw ponds.Conclusions The nine years of field observations in a unique shrub removal experiment at a Siberian tundra site document possible trajectories of small-scale permafrost collapse and the initial stage of vegetation recovery, which is essential knowledge for assessing future tundra landscape changes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thaw pond development and initial vegetation succession in experimental plots at a Siberian lowland tundra site

Heijmans

Blok

et al. 2017

Plant Soil

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“…Seismic lines are widely detectable in the trend imagery, despite having an average width less than 10 m, or one-third of the Landsat resolution. Strong spectral contrast produced by vigorous regeneration of broadleaf vegetation within seismic lines [57] is sufficient to make them visible throughout region 1. Figure 15 shows a highly dynamic region surrounding the town of Norman Wells, situated along the Mackenzie River.…”

Section: Mining and Anthropogenic Footprintmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detecting Landscape Changes in High Latitude Environments Using Landsat Trend Analysis: 1. Visualization

et al. 2014

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Satellite remote sensing is a promising technology for monitoring natural and anthropogenic changes occurring in remote, northern environments. It offers the potential to scale-up ground-based, local environmental monitoring efforts to document disturbance types, and characterize their extents and frequencies at regional scales. Here we present a simple, but effective means of visually assessing landscape disturbances in northern environments using trend analysis of Landsat satellite image stacks. Linear trends of the Tasseled Cap brightness, greenness, and wetness indices, when composited into an RGB image, effectively distinguish diverse landscape changes based on additive color logic. Using a variety of reference datasets within Northwest Territories, Canada, we show that the OPEN ACCESSRemote Sens. 2014, 6 11534 trend composites are effective for identifying wildfire regeneration, tundra greening, fluvial dynamics, thermokarst processes including lake surface area changes and retrogressive thaw slumps, and the footprint of resource development operations and municipal development. Interpretation of the trend composites is aided by a color wheel legend and contextual information related to the size, shape, and location of change features. A companion paper in this issue (Olthof and Fraser) focuses on quantitative methods for classifying these changes.

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“…Dwarf willows that grew on drier sites, such as Salix phlebophylla Anderss., recovered more slowly than erect, moist-site willows such as S. pulchra Cham. Kemper and Macdonald (2009a) reported that winter seismic trails 20-30 years old had shrubbier vegetation than surrounding tundra on the partially forested Mackenzie Delta, Canada, mainly due to increases of the boreal forest species of shrub birch, Betula glandulosa Michx. They suggested that a warming climate could have favored shrub regrowth over other plants.…”

Section: Vegetationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long‐term recovery patterns of arctic tundra after winter seismic exploration

Jorgenson

Hoef

Jorgenson³

2010

Ecological Applications

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Abstract. In response to the increasing global demand for energy, oil exploration and development are expanding into frontier areas of the Arctic, where slow-growing tundra vegetation and the underlying permafrost soils are very sensitive to disturbance. The creation of vehicle trails on the tundra from seismic exploration for oil has accelerated in the past decade, and the cumulative impact represents a geographic footprint that covers a greater extent of Alaska's North Slope tundra than all other direct human impacts combined. Seismic exploration for oil and gas was conducted on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, USA, in the winters of 1984 and 1985. This study documents recovery of vegetation and permafrost soils over a two-decade period after vehicle traffic on snow-covered tundra. Paired permanent vegetation plots (disturbed vs. reference) were monitored six times from 1984 to 2002. Data were collected on percent vegetative cover by plant species and on soil and ground ice characteristics. We developed Bayesian hierarchical models, with temporally and spatially autocorrelated errors, to analyze the effects of vegetation type and initial disturbance levels on recovery patterns of the different plant growth forms as well as soil thaw depth. Plant community composition was altered on the trails by species-specific responses to initial disturbance and subsequent changes in substrate. Long-term changes included increased cover of graminoids and decreased cover of evergreen shrubs and mosses. Trails with low levels of initial disturbance usually improved well over time, whereas those with medium to high levels of initial disturbance recovered slowly. Trails on ice-poor, gravel substrates of riparian areas recovered better than those on ice-rich loamy soils of the uplands, even after severe initial damage. Recovery to pre-disturbance communities was not possible where trail subsidence occurred due to thawing of ground ice. Previous studies of disturbance from winter seismic vehicles in the Arctic predicted short-term and mostly aesthetic impacts, but we found that severe impacts to tundra vegetation persisted for two decades after disturbance under some conditions. We recommend management approaches that should be used to prevent persistent tundra damage.

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Directional change in upland tundra plant communities 20‐30 years after seismic exploration in the Canadian low‐arctic

Cited by 51 publications

References 49 publications

Thaw pond development and initial vegetation succession in experimental plots at a Siberian lowland tundra site

Thaw pond development and initial vegetation succession in experimental plots at a Siberian lowland tundra site

Detecting Landscape Changes in High Latitude Environments Using Landsat Trend Analysis: 1. Visualization

Long‐term recovery patterns of arctic tundra after winter seismic exploration

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