The Changing Biogeochemical Cycles of Tundra

Pries, Caitlin Hicks; McLaren, Jennie R.; Vaughn, Lydia Smith; Treat, Claire C.; Voigt, Carolina

doi:10.1002/9781119480419.ch7

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Changes in vegetation are also complex. Some field and remote sensing studies report high-latitude greening, thought to be driven by lessening cold temperature constraints and the growth of shrubs (Berner et al, 2020;Myers-Smith et al, 2020;Chen et al, 2021;Liu et al, 2021), CO 2 fertilization and increased nutrient availability from thawing soils (Hicks Pries et al, 2022). In some cases, greening may simply indicate vegetation regrowth following disturbance (e.g., wildfire) (Wang & Friedl 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional Hotspots of Change in Northern High Latitudes Informed by Observations from Space

Watts

2024

Preprint

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The high latitudes cover ˜20% of Earth's land surface. This region is facing many changes in thermal, moisture and vegetation properties, driven by climate warming. Here we leverage remote sensing-informed and climate reanalysis records to improve understanding of changes in key ecosystem indicators. To do so we applied non-parametric trend detections and Getis-Ord Gi* spatial hotspot assessments. We found substantial terrestrial warming trends across Siberia, portions of Greenland, Alaska, and western Canada. The same regions also showed increases in vapor pressure deficit, however changes in precipitation and soil moisture were variable. Vegetation greening and browning were widespread across both continents. Browning of the boreal zone was especially evident in autumn. Multivariate hotspot assessments indicated that Siberian ecoregions experienced the most substantial changes in thermal, moisture and vegetation status. Finally, we found that using regionally-based trends alone, without more local assessments, can yield incomplete views of high-latitude responses to climate warming. Key Points• This study identifies multiple changes in climatic and vegetation conditions across the high-latitude terrestrial domain. • Environmental changes occurring across the high-latitude domain are spatially complex, leading to a need for localized (i.e., pixel-based) trend assessments in addition to those based on regional averages.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional Hotspots of Change in Northern High Latitudes Informed by Observations from Space

Watts

2024

Preprint

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Quantification of class 1 integrons and characterization of the associated gene cassettes in the high Arctic – Interplay of humans and glaciers in shaping the aquatic resistome

Makowska-Zawierucha

Mokracka

Małecka

et al. 2022

Ecological Indicators

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Recent trends in the chemistry of major northern rivers signal widespread Arctic change

Tank,

McClelland,

Spencer

et al. 2023

Nat. Geosci.

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Large rivers integrate processes occurring throughout their watersheds, and are therefore sentinels of change across broad spatial scales. Riverine chemistry also regulates ecosystem function across Earth's land-ocean continuum, exerting control from the micro-(e.g., food web) to the macro-(e.g., carbon cycle) scale. In the rapidly warming Arctic, a wide range of processes have been hypothesized to alter river water chemistry. However, it is unknown how the land-ocean flux of waterborne constituents is changing at the pan-Arctic scale. Here, we show profound shifts in the concentration and transport of biogeochemical constituents in the six largest Arctic rivers (the Ob', Yenisey, Lena, Kolyma, Yukon, and Mackenzie) since 2003, near river mouths capturing two-thirds of the pan-Arctic watershed. While some constituent fluxes increase substantially at the pan-Arctic scale (alkalinity and associated ions), others decline (nitrate and associated inorganic nutrients) or are overall unchanged (dissolved organics). These clear but divergent trends diagnose a multi-systems perturbation that indicates alteration of processes ranging from chemical weathering on land, to primary production in the coastal ocean. We anticipate these findings will refine models of current and future functioning of the coupled land-ocean Arctic system, and spur research on scale-dependent change across the riverintegrated Arctic domain. MainLarge rivers are planetary linchpins, connecting vast swaths of terrestrial landmass to the world's coastal oceans. On land, rivers integrate patchy landscapes and the variable biogeochemical processes that these landscapes host, as water moving through watersheds incorporates the chemical signature of its flow path. In the coastal ocean, the chemical signature of water transported by rivers regulates nearshore biogeochemical 1,2 and ecological 3,4 function; over broader scales, river water and its composition modify ocean physics 1 . Nowhere is this more consequential than in the Arctic, where ~11% of Earth's riverine discharge drains into an enclosed basin containing ~1% of global ocean volume 5 . This drainage occurs predominantly via six large rivers (Figure 1, Extended Data Table 1). As a result, quantifying trends in river water chemistry at a constrained series of downstream sites allows us to diagnose change across much of the pan-Arctic watershed, better understand the current functioning of the connected land-ocean Arctic system, and predict what the future may hold for this rapidly changing region 6 .

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The Changing Biogeochemical Cycles of Tundra

Cited by 3 publications

References 308 publications

Regional Hotspots of Change in Northern High Latitudes Informed by Observations from Space

Regional Hotspots of Change in Northern High Latitudes Informed by Observations from Space

Quantification of class 1 integrons and characterization of the associated gene cassettes in the high Arctic – Interplay of humans and glaciers in shaping the aquatic resistome

Recent trends in the chemistry of major northern rivers signal widespread Arctic change

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