Comparison of the response stability of Siberian larch to climate change in the Altai and Tianshan

AbstractThe monitoring of the spatial and temporal dynamics of vegetation productivity is important in the context of carbon sequestration by terrestrial ecosystems from the atmosphere. The accessibility of the full archive of medium-resolution earth observation data for multiple decades dramatically improved the potential of remote sensing to support global climate change and terrestrial carbon cycle studies. We investigated a dense time series of multi-sensor Landsat Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data at the southern fringe of the boreal forests in the Mongolian forest-steppe with regard to the ability to capture the annual variability in radial stemwood increment and thus forest productivity. Forest productivity was assessed from dendrochronological series of Siberian larch (Larix sibirica) from 15 plots in forest patches of different ages and stand sizes. The results revealed a strong correlation between the maximum growing season NDVI of forest sites and tree ring width over an observation period of 20 years. This relationship was independent of the forest stand size and of the landscape’s forest-to-grassland ratio. We conclude from the consistent findings of our case study that the maximum growing season NDVI can be used for retrospective modelling of forest productivity over larger areas. The usefulness of grassland NDVI as a proxy for forest NDVI to monitor forest productivity in semi-arid areas could only partially be confirmed. Spatial and temporal inconsistencies between forest and grassland NDVI are a consequence of different physiological and ecological vegetation properties. Due to coarse spatial resolution of available satellite data, previous studies were not able to account for small-scaled land-cover patches like fragmented forest in the forest-steppe. Landsat satellite-time series were able to separate those effects and thus may contribute to a better understanding of the impact of global climate change on natural ecosystems.

Download Full-text

Fungi and plant co-variation in Arctic Siberia inferred from sedimentary ancient DNA metabarcoding during the last 45.000 years

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-14604 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Barbara von Hippel ◽

Kathleen R. Stoof-Leichsenring ◽

Luise Schulte ◽

Peter Seeber ◽

Laura S. Epp ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Ancient Dna ◽

Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽

Vegetation Change ◽

Sediment Cores ◽

Siberian Larch ◽

Biotic Interactions ◽

Arctic Ecosystems ◽

Arctic Regions ◽

Arctic Siberia

<p>Climate change has a great impact on boreal ecosystems including Siberian larch forests. As a consequence of warming, larch grow is possible in areas where climate used to be too cold, leading to a shift of the tree line into more arctic regions. Most plants co-exist in symbiosis with heterotrophic organisms surrounding their root system. In arctic ecosystems, mycorrhizal fungi are a prerequisite for plant establishment and survival because they support nutrient uptake from nutrient-poor soils and maintain the water supply. Until now, however, knowledge about the co-variation of vegetation and fungi is poor. Certainly, the understanding of dynamic changes in biotic interactions is important to understand adaptation mechanisms of ecosystems to climate change.</p><p>We investigated sedimentary ancient DNA from Lake Levinson Lessing, Taymyr Peninsula (Arctic Siberia, tundra), Lake Lama, Lake Kyutyunda (both northern Siberia, tundra-taiga transition zone) and Lake Bolshoe Toko (southern Siberia, forest area) covering the last about 45.000 years using ITS primers for fungi along with the chloroplast P6 loop marker for vegetation metabarcoding. We found changes in the fungal communities that are in broad agreement with vegetation turnover. To our knowledge, this is the first broad ecological study on lake sediment cores to analyze fungal biodiversity in relation to vegetation change on millennial time scales.</p>

Download Full-text

Sensitivity of Siberian larch forests to climate change

Global Change Biology ◽

10.1111/j.1365-2486.2011.02417.x ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 17 (7) ◽

pp. 2370-2384 ◽

Cited By ~ 73

Author(s):

JACQUELYN KREMPER SHUMAN ◽

HERMAN HENRY SHUGART ◽

THOMAS LIAM O'HALLORAN

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Siberian Larch ◽

Larch Forests

Download Full-text

Development of multistemmed life forms of Siberian larch as an indicator of climate change in the timberline ecotone of the Polar Urals

Russian Journal of Ecology ◽

10.1134/s1067413607060112 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 38 (6) ◽

pp. 440-443 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

V. S. Mazepa ◽

N. M. Devi

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Siberian Larch ◽

Life Forms ◽

Polar Urals ◽

Timberline Ecotone ◽

The Polar Urals

Download Full-text

Thermal responses of mountain birch and Siberian larch of an alpine forest-tundra ecotone to climate change

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry ◽

10.1007/s10973-021-10752-z ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

E. A. Tyutkova ◽

I. A. Petrov ◽

S. R. Loskutov

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Siberian Larch ◽

Mountain Birch ◽

Forest Tundra ◽

Alpine Forest

Download Full-text

Averting robo-bees: why free-flying robotic bees are a bad idea

Emerging Topics in Life Sciences ◽

10.1042/etls20190063 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (6) ◽

pp. 723-729

Author(s):

Roslyn Gleadow ◽

Jim Hanan ◽

Alan Dorin

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Computer Simulation ◽

Food Security ◽

European Countries ◽

Plant Interactions ◽

Plant Insect Interactions ◽

Native Habitat ◽

Insect Pollinators ◽

Insect Interactions

Food security and the sustainability of native ecosystems depends on plant-insect interactions in countless ways. Recently reported rapid and immense declines in insect numbers due to climate change, the use of pesticides and herbicides, the introduction of agricultural monocultures, and the destruction of insect native habitat, are all potential contributors to this grave situation. Some researchers are working towards a future where natural insect pollinators might be replaced with free-flying robotic bees, an ecologically problematic proposal. We argue instead that creating environments that are friendly to bees and exploring the use of other species for pollination and bio-control, particularly in non-European countries, are more ecologically sound approaches. The computer simulation of insect-plant interactions is a far more measured application of technology that may assist in managing, or averting, ‘Insect Armageddon' from both practical and ethical viewpoints.

Download Full-text

Modelling ecosystem adaptation and dangerous rates of global warming

Emerging Topics in Life Sciences ◽

10.1042/etls20180113 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 221-231 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Rebecca Millington ◽

Peter M. Cox ◽

Jonathan R. Moore ◽

Gabriel Yvon-Durocher

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Global Warming ◽

Diffusion Rate ◽

Individual Species ◽

Genetic Evolution ◽

Rates Of Change ◽

Rapid Climate Change ◽

Warming Climate ◽

Intraspecies Competition ◽

High Trait

Abstract We are in a period of relatively rapid climate change. This poses challenges for individual species and threatens the ecosystem services that humanity relies upon. Temperature is a key stressor. In a warming climate, individual organisms may be able to shift their thermal optima through phenotypic plasticity. However, such plasticity is unlikely to be sufficient over the coming centuries. Resilience to warming will also depend on how fast the distribution of traits that define a species can adapt through other methods, in particular through redistribution of the abundance of variants within the population and through genetic evolution. In this paper, we use a simple theoretical ‘trait diffusion’ model to explore how the resilience of a given species to climate change depends on the initial trait diversity (biodiversity), the trait diffusion rate (mutation rate), and the lifetime of the organism. We estimate theoretical dangerous rates of continuous global warming that would exceed the ability of a species to adapt through trait diffusion, and therefore lead to a collapse in the overall productivity of the species. As the rate of adaptation through intraspecies competition and genetic evolution decreases with species lifetime, we find critical rates of change that also depend fundamentally on lifetime. Dangerous rates of warming vary from 1°C per lifetime (at low trait diffusion rate) to 8°C per lifetime (at high trait diffusion rate). We conclude that rapid climate change is liable to favour short-lived organisms (e.g. microbes) rather than longer-lived organisms (e.g. trees).

Download Full-text