Vegetation response to climate warming across the forest–tundra ecotone: species‐dependent upward movement

Løkken, Jørn Olav; Evju, Marianne; Söderström, Lars; Hofgaard, Annika

doi:10.1111/jvs.12911

Cited by 16 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…Further, comparative vegetation surveys of mountain summits across Europe show an increase in richness over the last 145 years (Steinbauer et al , 2018). Similarly, an increase in richness has been found across the forest-tundra ecotone (Løkken et al , 2020). Short-term observational studies, however, suggest that colonization by terrestrial species is lagging behind shifts in temperature isotherms (Lenoir et al , 2020), which can be compensated on the short term by local extinction lags (Dullinger et al 2012, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Sedimentary ancient DNA shows terrestrial plant richness continuously increased over the Holocene in northern Fennoscandia

Rijal

Heintzman

Lammers

et al. 2020

Preprint

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SummaryIt is crucial to understand how climate warming and other environmental factors affect biodiversity, especially in the rapidly changing northern latitudes.We use sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) metabarcoding to estimate taxonomic richness, and local and regional species pools of terrestrial plants for 10 lakes in northern Fennoscandia over the Holocene.In total, 288 taxa were found in the 316 samples analysed, with local species pools of 89-200 and mean taxonomic richness of 21-65 per catchment. Quality control showed that sedaDNA is a reliable estimate of richness. Local and regional species pools showed a steep increase in the Early Holocene, when the highest rate of warming took place, and continued to increase through the Middle and into the Late Holocene, although temperature decreased over these periods. Only the regional species pool levels off during the last two millennia. Richness and local species pools were always higher in catchments with higher bedrock nutrient availability.We find sedaDNA to be a good proxy for diversity, opening avenues to detect patterns hereto unknown, and we provide a robust methodological approach to its application. Our findings suggest we can expect time lags and environmental factors to affect species richness also of the following global warming.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Sedimentary ancient DNA shows terrestrial plant richness continuously increased over the Holocene in northern Fennoscandia

Rijal

Heintzman

Lammers

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…The energy balance of tundra ecosystems is crucial for ecosystem processes such as carbon and nutrient cycling, plant growth and productivity, and microbial activity (Lund et al 2014). Woody species (i.e., deciduous and evergreen shrubs) have been shown to greatly alter belowground carbon exchange rates (Parker et al 2020), thus dramatic increases in cover of woody species have the potential to greatly alter ecosystem structure and function.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the climate impacts on decadal vegetation change in northern Alaska

et al. 2022

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The Arctic is experiencing rapid climate change. This research documents tundra vegetation changes near Atqasuk and Utqiaġvik, Alaska. At each location, 30 plots were sampled annually from 2010 to 2019 using a point frame. For every encounter, we recorded the height and classified it into eight groupings (deciduous shrubs, evergreen shrubs, forbs, graminoids, bryophytes, lichens, litter and standing dead vegetation); for vascular plants we also identified the species. We found an increase in plant stature and cover over time consistent with regional warming. Graminoid cover and height increased at both sites, with a fivefold increase in cover in Atqasuk. At Atqasuk shrub and forb cover and height increased. Species diversity decreased at both sites. Year was generally the strongest predictor of vegetation change suggesting a cumulative change over time; however, soil moisture and soil temperature were also predictors of vegetation change. We anticipate plants in the region will continue to grow taller as the region warms, resulting in greater plant cover, especially graminoids and shrubs. The increase of plant cover and accumulation of litter may impact nonvascular plants negatively. Continued changes in community structure will impact energy balance and carbon cycling and may result in regional and global consequences.

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“…Growth form responses to increased temperature are not consistent at all sites, however, and analysis by growth form may mask species‐specific responses. Species within growth forms exhibit a broad range of responses to environmental manipulations (Hudson et al, 2011; Saccone et al, 2017; Løkken et al, 2020), providing support for functional trait‐ and species‐focused studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species‐specific trends and variability in plant functional traits across a latitudinal gradient in northern Alaska

Betway

Hollister

May

et al. 2021

J Vegetation Science

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Questions Many studies explore how plant functional traits may change as the climate warms by observing traits over environmental gradients. The amount of intraspecific variation (ITV), however, is often unknown and unaccounted for in most trait‐based studies. Our objectives are to: (a) determine if species‐level patterns across a latitudinal gradient match those of other members within the same growth form; (b) compare distributions of trait values across regions; and (c) quantify the amount of ITV within each trait relative to the amount of variation within the growth form and across taxonomic levels (family and species). Location Utqiaġvik, Atqasuk, and Toolik Lake, Alaska. Methods This study examines seven plant functional traits for 12 arctic species. Traits were measured on 10 individuals of each species at each region and analyzed using one‐way ANOVA and variance partitioning via nested ANOVA. Results Comparison of mean trait values across the three regions for each species showed considerable variability within a growth form. Within deciduous shrubs, for example, one species increased in specific leaf area (SLA) with latitude while another species decreased. Results from variance partitioning differed among functional traits. Across the three regions, plant height, leaf area, SLA, leaf thickness, and leaf dry matter content (LDMC) had relatively low amounts of intraspecific variation (ITV; <15%) while normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) had a high amount of ITV (>50%). All traits showed significant differences across regions for at least some species. Conclusions Because our results showed considerable variability in levels of ITV among functional traits, we emphasize the need to investigate ITV in trait‐based studies spanning multiple regions. Levels of ITV are important in determining how different populations respond to local environmental conditions. Incorporating ITV in studies investigating vegetation change with warming will provide more robust and reliable predictions.

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Vegetation response to climate warming across the forest–tundra ecotone: species‐dependent upward movement

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 16 publications

References 66 publications

Sedimentary ancient DNA shows terrestrial plant richness continuously increased over the Holocene in northern Fennoscandia

Sedimentary ancient DNA shows terrestrial plant richness continuously increased over the Holocene in northern Fennoscandia

Understanding the climate impacts on decadal vegetation change in northern Alaska

Species‐specific trends and variability in plant functional traits across a latitudinal gradient in northern Alaska

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