Tundra in the Rain: Differential Vegetation Responses to Three Years of Experimentally Doubled Summer Precipitation in Siberian Shrub and Swedish Bog Tundra

Keuper, Frida; Parmentier, Frans‐Jan W.; Blok, Daan; Bodegom, Peter M. van; Dorrepaal, Ellen; Hal, Jurgen van; Logtestijn, Richard S. P. van; Aerts, Rien

doi:10.1007/s13280-012-0305-2

Cited by 32 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…Spring and summer precipitation can be a growthlimiting factor for tundra shrubs at some Arctic and alpine tundra sites (rayBaCK et al 2010;liang et al 2012;KeuPer et al 2012;li et al 2016), but we did not find a positive influence of spring or summer precipitation for the site-species combinations studied here. However, precipitation is spatially highly variable and Arctic precipitation records are restricted to a few meteorological stations which limits data availability to gridded climate datasets (MyerS-SMitH and MyerS 2018).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 78%

“…A direct negative influence of summer precipitation is unlikely at this site, as B. nana growth was found to increase at a Siberian site with similar summer temperatures in response to a doubling of precipitation to amounts similar to those at Vole (KeuPer et al 2012). Most likely, cloudy weather associated with summer precipitation reduces photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and thus photosynthetic productivity and radial growth in B. nana, since this shade-intolerant species is sensitive to PAR-reduction (CaMPioli et al 2012b).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

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A warmer and greener cold world: summer warming increases shrub growth in the alpine and high Arctic tundra

Weijers¹,

Myers‐Smith²,

Löffler³

2018

Erdkunde

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Link: Link to publication record in Edinburgh Research Explorer Document Version:Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Published In: Erdkunde General rightsCopyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policyThe University of Edinburgh has made every reasonable effort to ensure that Edinburgh Research Explorer content complies with UK legislation. If you believe that the public display of this file breaches copyright please contact openaccess@ed.ac.uk providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Summary: The Arctic and alpine biome is rapidly warming, which might be causing an encroachment of relatively tall woody shrub vegetation into tundra ecosystems, which will probably result in an overall positive feedback to climate warming. This encroachment is, however, believed to remain limited to the relatively warm parts of the biome, where taller shrubs may displace shorter species. Still, climate sensitivity of shrub growth strongly differs between species and sites and High Arctic dwarf shrub species may respond rapidly to increasing temperatures in absence of taller species. In addition, it remains largely unknown whether shrubs from different functional groups from the same sites respond similarly to climate drivers. In the present study we examined the climate-growth relationships of six different site-species combinations: one evergreen and one deciduous shrub species at two alpine sites, and one evergreen dwarf shrub species at two High Arctic sites. We compared linear mixed models for each combination, explaining existing shrub growth data with site-specific interpolated monthly and seasonal climate data from the gridded meteorological dataset CRU TS4.00. Shrub growth rates were found to be sensitive to summer climate for all species at all sites. Continued and projected warming is thus likely to stimulate a further encroachment of shrubs in these systems, at least through a densification of existing stands. Dwarf shrub growth strongly responded to the recent warming at both High Arctic sites, contrasting with previous work suggesting that shrub expansion might remain limited to warmer tundra regions. At the alpine sites, growth of evergreen shrubs was found to be more dependent on summer climate than growth of deciduous shrubs, perhaps because these evergreen species are less prone to herbivory. However, biome-wide generalizations at the functional group level may be difficult to interpolate to the species level. Micro-site conditions, such as the determination of growing season length and winter soil temperatures, and influence on growing season soil moisture by snow depth, may determine the strength of the climate-growth relationships found.Zusammenfassung: Gegenwärtig ist eine rapide klimatische E...

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 78%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

A warmer and greener cold world: summer warming increases shrub growth in the alpine and high Arctic tundra

Weijers¹,

Myers‐Smith²,

Löffler³

2018

Erdkunde

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“…On the other hand, invading vegetation or increased LAI may darken the surface, particularly through shading of snow in late winter and spring, and reduce surface albedo, leading to a positive feedback to near-surface temperature. Previous studies of vegetation feedbacks to precipitation have been inconclusive, with indications of positive, negative and minimal feedbacks (Seneviratne et al, 2010;Keuper et al, 2012), but they are likely associated with factors such as wetness of ecosystems, enhanced evapotranspiration and soil moisture, convective characteristics of climate and land-surface heterogeneities. Recently, ESMs have started to include interactive vegetation dynamics in their land-surface components in order to fully address the effects of both biogeochemical and biogeophysical feedbacks arising from land-cover change and land-management practices (e.g.…”

Section: Filling Gaps In Biogeophysical Feedback Loops By Employing Amentioning

confidence: 99%

Biogeophysical feedbacks enhance the Arctic terrestrial carbon sink in regional Earth system dynamics

et al. 2014

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Abstract. Continued warming of the Arctic will likely accelerate terrestrial carbon (C) cycling by increasing both uptake and release of C. Yet, there are still large uncertainties in modelling Arctic terrestrial ecosystems as a source or sink of C. Most modelling studies assessing or projecting the future fate of C exchange with the atmosphere are based on either stand-alone process-based models or coupled climate-C cycle general circulation models, and often disregard biogeophysical feedbacks of land-surface changes to the atmosphere. To understand how biogeophysical feedbacks might impact on both climate and the C budget in Arctic terrestrial ecosystems, we apply the regional Earth system model RCA-GUESS over the CORDEX-Arctic domain. The model is forced with lateral boundary conditions from an EC-Earth CMIP5 climate projection under the representative concentration pathway (RCP) 8.5 scenario. We perform two simulations, with or without interactive vegetation dynamics respectively, to assess the impacts of biogeophysical feedbacks. Both simulations indicate that Arctic terrestrial ecosystems will continue to sequester C with an increased uptake rate until the 2060-2070s, after which the C budget will return to a weak C sink as increased soil respiration and biomass burning outpaces increased net primary productivity. The additional C sinks arising from biogeophysical feedbacks are approximately 8.5 Gt C, accounting for 22 % of the total C sinks, of which 83.5 % are located in areas of extant Arctic tundra. Two opposing feedback mechanisms, mediated by albedo and evapotranspiration changes respectively, contribute to this response. The albedo feedback dominates in the winter and spring seasons, amplifying the near-surface warming by up to 1.35 • C in spring, while the evapotranspiration feedback dominates in the summer months, and leads to a cooling of up to 0.81 • C. Such feedbacks stimulate vegetation growth due to an earlier onset of the growing season, leading to compositional changes in woody plants and vegetation redistribution.

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“…Increased snow depth has induced permafrost thawing and associated ground subsidence in + Snow with water table closer to (and sometimes above) ground level and thicker active layer (Johansson et al 2013). In tundra regions, where plants are adapted to short growing seasons but often are moisture limited (Keuper et al 2012a), the timing of snowmelt and the availability of water during the peak growing season are important factors regulating plant growth and annual carbon balance (Aurela et al 2004). In line with our observations from Storflaket, increased productivity due to permafrost thawing was reported from Alaskan tundra sites (Trucco et al 2012) and from five peatland sites in northern subarctic Sweden (Keuper et al 2012b).…”

Section: Observed Differences Between Control and Treatment Plotsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increased photosynthesis compensates for shorter growing season in subarctic tundra—8 years of snow accumulation manipulations

et al. 2014

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This study was initiated to analyze the effect of increased snow cover on plant photosynthesis in subarctic mires underlain by permafrost. Snow fences were used to increase the accumulation of snow on a subarctic permafrost mire in northern Sweden. By measuring reflected photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) the effect of snow thickness and associated delay of the start of the growing season was assessed in terms of absorbed PAR and estimated gross primary production (GPP). Six plots experienced increased snow accumulation and six plots were untreated. Incoming and reflected PAR was logged hourly from August 2010 to October 2013. In 2010 PAR measurements were coupled with flux chamber measurements to assess GPP and light use efficiency of the plots. The increased snow thickness prolonged the duration of the snow cover in spring. The delay of the growing season start in the treated plots was 18 days in 2011, 3 days in 2012 and 22 days in 2013. Results show higher PAR absorption, together with almost 35 % higher light use efficiency, in treated plots compared to untreated plots. Estimations of GPP suggest that the loss in early season photosynthesis, due to the shortening of the growing season in the treatment plots, is well compensated for by the increased absorption of PAR and higher light use efficiency throughout the whole growing seasons. This compensation is likely to be explained by increased soil moisture and nutrients together with a shift in vegetation composition associated with the accelerated permafrost thaw in the treatment plots.

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Tundra in the Rain: Differential Vegetation Responses to Three Years of Experimentally Doubled Summer Precipitation in Siberian Shrub and Swedish Bog Tundra

Cited by 32 publications

References 56 publications

A warmer and greener cold world: summer warming increases shrub growth in the alpine and high Arctic tundra

A warmer and greener cold world: summer warming increases shrub growth in the alpine and high Arctic tundra

Biogeophysical feedbacks enhance the Arctic terrestrial carbon sink in regional Earth system dynamics

Increased photosynthesis compensates for shorter growing season in subarctic tundra—8 years of snow accumulation manipulations

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