scholarly journals Long-term effects of snowmelt timing and climate warming on phenology, growth and reproductive effort of arctic tundra plant species

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther R. Frei ◽  
Greg H.R. Henry
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Reproductive Effort ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Plant Responses ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Passive Warming ◽  
Species Specific

Arctic regions are particularly affected by rapidly rising temperatures and altered snow regimes. Snowmelt timing depends on spring temperatures and winter snow accumulation. Scenarios for the Arctic include both decreases and increases in snow accumulation. Predictions of future snowmelt timing are thus difficult and experimental evidence for ecological consequences is scarce. In 1995, a long-term factorial experiment was set up in a High Arctic evergreen shrub heath community on Ellesmere Island, Canada. We investigated how snow removal, snow addition and passive warming affected phenology, growth and reproductive effort of the four common tundra plant species <i>Cassiope tetragona</i>, <i>Dryas integrifolia</i>, <i>Luzula arctica</i> and <i>Papaver radicatum</i>. Timing of flowering and seed maturation as well as flower production were more strongly influenced by the combined effects of snowmelt timing and warming in the two shrub species than in the two herbaceous species. Warming effects persisted over the course of the growing season and resulted in increased shrub growth. Moreover, the long-term trend of increasing growth in two species suggests that ambient warming promotes tundra plant growth. Our results confirm the importance of complex interactions between temperature and snowmelt timing in driving species-specific plant responses to climate change in the Arctic.

scholarly journals Phenology of high-arctic butterflies and their floral resources: Species-specific responses to climate change

2014 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toke T. Høye ◽  
Anne Eskildsen ◽  
Rikke R. Hansen ◽  
Joseph J. Bowden ◽  
Niels M. Schmidt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Species Level ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Floral Resources ◽  
Butterfly Species ◽  
Pitfall Traps ◽  
Flight Season ◽  
Species Specific

Abstract Current global warming is particularly pronounced in the Arctic and arthropods are expected to respond rapidly to these changes. Long-term studies of individual arthropod species from the Arctic are, however, virtually absent. We examined butterfly specimens collected from yellow pitfall traps over 14 years (1996–2009) at Zackenberg in high-arctic, north-east Greenland. Specimens were previously sorted to the family level. We identified them to the species level and examined long-term species-specific phenological responses to recent summer warming. Two species were rare in the samples (Polaris fritillary Bolo-ria polaris and Arctic blue Plebejus glandon) and statistical analyses of phenological responses were therefore restricted to the two most abundant species (Arctic fritillary, B. chariclea and Northern clouded yellow Colias hecla). Our analyses demonstrated a trend towards earlier flight seasons in B. chariclea, but not in C. hecla. The timing of onset, peak and end of the flight season in B. chariclea were closely related to snowmelt, July temperature and their interaction, whereas onset, peak and end of the flight season in C. hecla were only related to timing of snowmelt. The duration of the butterfly flight season was significantly positively related to the temporal overlap with floral resources in both butterfly species. We further demonstrate that yellow pitfall traps are a useful alternative to transect walks for butterfly recording in tundra habitats. More phenological studies of Arctic arthropods should be carried out at the species level and ideally be analysed in context with interacting species to assess how ongoing climate change will affect Arctic biodiversity in the near future.

scholarly journals Long‐term effects of nutrient enrichment controlling plant species and functional composition in a boreal rich fen

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 907-920 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dag‐Inge Øien ◽  
Bård Pedersen ◽  
Łukasz Kozub ◽  
Klara Goldstein ◽  
Mateusz Wilk
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Nutrient Enrichment ◽  
Functional Composition ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Rich Fen

scholarly journals Species-specific effects of passive warming in an Antarctic moss system

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (11) ◽  
pp. 190744 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah M. Prather ◽  
Angélica Casanova-Katny ◽  
Andrew F. Clements ◽  
Matthew W. Chmielewski ◽  
Mehmet A. Balkan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Fungal Biomass ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Moss Species ◽  
Abiotic Environment ◽  
Invertebrate Communities ◽  
Passive Warming ◽  
Specific Effects ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Antarctic Moss

Polar systems are experiencing rapid climate change and the high sensitivity of these Arctic and Antarctic ecosystems make them especially vulnerable to accelerated ecological transformation. In Antarctica, warming results in a mosaic of ice-free terrestrial habitats dominated by a diverse assemblage of cryptogamic plants (i.e. mosses and lichens). Although these plants provide key habitat for a wide array of microorganisms and invertebrates, we have little understanding of the interaction between trophic levels in this terrestrial ecosystem and whether there are functional effects of plant species on higher trophic levels that may alter with warming. Here, we used open top chambers on Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, Antarctica, to examine the effects of passive warming and moss species on the abiotic environment and ultimately on higher trophic levels. For the dominant mosses, Polytrichastrum alpinum and Sanionia georgicouncinata , we found species-specific effects on the abiotic environment, including moss canopy temperature and soil moisture. In addition, we found distinct shifts in sexual expression in P . alpinum plants under warming compared to mosses without warming, and invertebrate communities in this moss species were strongly correlated with plant reproduction. Mosses under warming had substantially larger total invertebrate communities, and some invertebrate taxa were influenced differentially by moss species. However, warmed moss plants showed lower fungal biomass than control moss plants, and fungal biomass differed between moss species. Our results indicate that continued warming may impact the reproductive output of Antarctic moss species, potentially altering terrestrial ecosystems dynamics from the bottom up. Understanding these effects requires clarifying the foundational, mechanistic role that individual plant species play in mediating complex interactions in Antarctica's terrestrial food webs.

scholarly journals Modelling seasonal nitrate concentrations in runoff of a heathland catchment in SW Norway using the MAGIC model: I. Calibration and specification of nitrogen processes

2009 ◽  
Vol 40 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 198-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Merete S. Sjøeng ◽  
Richard F. Wright ◽  
Øyvind Kaste
Keyword(s):  
Acidic Deposition ◽  
N Deposition ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Time Step ◽  
Surface Water Chemistry ◽  
Magic Model ◽  
Best Fit ◽  
Annual Time

MAGIC (the Model of Acidification of Groundwater In Catchments) has been widely applied on catchments all over the world. The model has been used with annual time resolution to simulate the long-term effects of acidic deposition on surface water chemistry. Here MAGIC was applied using a monthly time step. The purpose was to simulate observed seasonal nitrate (NO3) concentrations and fluxes at an upland heathland catchment in southwestern Norway during the period 1993–2004. The rates of the key ecosystem nitrogen (N) processes (mineralization, plant uptake, litterfall and immobilization) were assumed to be governed by temperature. A snow accumulation and melt routine was used. The rates were calibrated to obtain the best match between the observed and simulated NO3 patterns. The best fit was obtained with standard yearly cycles for deposition and N parameters. The results show that MAGIC can explain 68 and 88% of the variation in seasonal NO3 concentrations and fluxes, respectively. The calibrated model provides a tool for exploring the effects of future scenarios of climate change and N deposition on NO3 in streamwater.

SUBLETHAL INJURY TO RED MANGROVES TWO YEARS AFTER OILING1

1997 ◽  
Vol 1997 (1) ◽  
pp. 1040-1041 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally C. Levings ◽  
Stephen D. Garrity ◽  
Edward S. Van Vleet ◽  
Dana L. Wetzel
Keyword(s):  
Shoot Growth ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Specific Growth ◽  
Petroleum Products ◽  
Fuel Oil ◽  
Detailed Data ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Sublethal Injury ◽  
Species Specific

ABSTRACT More than 300,000 gallons of refined petroleum products were discharged near the entrance to Tampa Bay, Florida on August 10, 1993. Floating slicks and sunken oil patty (no. 6 fuel oil) subsequently entered Boca Ciega Bay through John's Pass and washed or stranded on four mangrove keys inside the pass. Between one and two years after the spill, surviving red mangroves showed graded negative responses to oil in 4 of 4 measures of shoot growth and production. Sublethal, long-term effects of oil spills may be more common than reported, but detection requires detailed data on species-specific growth and production patterns with respect to oiling.

scholarly journals Short- and long-term effects of litter size manipulation in a small wild-derived rodent

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 20131096 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikko Lehto Hürlimann ◽  
Antoine Stier ◽  
Olivier Scholly ◽  
François Criscuolo ◽  
Pierre Bize
Keyword(s):  
Litter Size ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Reproductive Effort ◽  
Common Vole ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Litter Size Manipulation ◽  
Laboratory Rodents ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Long Term Consequences

Iteroparous organisms maximize their overall fitness by optimizing their reproductive effort over multiple reproductive events. Hence, changes in reproductive effort are expected to have both short- and long-term consequences on parents and their offspring. In laboratory rodents, manipulation of reproductive efforts during lactation has however revealed few short-term reproductive adjustments, suggesting that female laboratory rodents express maximal rather than optimal levels of reproductive investment as observed in semelparous organisms. Using a litter size manipulation (LSM) experiment in a small wild-derived rodent (the common vole; Microtus arvalis ), we show that females altered their reproductive efforts in response to LSM, with females having higher metabolic rates and showing alternative body mass dynamics when rearing an enlarged rather than reduced litter. Those differences in female reproductive effort were nonetheless insufficient to fully match their pups’ energy demand, pups being lighter at weaning in enlarged litters. Interestingly, female reproductive effort changes had long-term consequences, with females that had previously reared an enlarged litter being lighter at the birth of their subsequent litter and producing lower quality pups. We discuss the significance of using wild-derived animals in studies of reproductive effort optimization.

scholarly journals Post-fire vegetation succession in the Siberian subarctic tundra over 45 years

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramona J. Heim ◽  
Anna Bucharova ◽  
Leya Brodt ◽  
Johannes Kamp ◽  
Daniel Rieker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Temperature ◽  
Vegetation Cover ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Vegetation Recovery ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Forest Tundra ◽  
Permafrost Thaw ◽  
Legacy Effect ◽  
Thaw Depth

AbstractWildfires are relatively rare in subarctic tundra ecosystems, but they can strongly change ecosystem properties. Short-term fire effects on subarctic tundra vegetation are well documented, but long-term vegetation recovery has been studied less. The frequency of tundra fires will increase with climate warming. Understanding the long-term effects of fire is necessary to predict future ecosystem changes.We used a space-for-time approach to assess vegetation recovery after fire over more than four decades. We studied soil and vegetation patterns on three large fire scars (>44, 28 and 12 years old) in dry, lichen-dominated forest tundra in Western Siberia. On 60 plots, we determined soil temperature and permafrost thaw depth, sampled vegetation and measured plant functional traits. We assessed trends in NDVI to support the field-based results on vegetation recovery.Soil temperature, permafrost thaw depth and total vegetation cover had recovered to pre-fire levels after >44 years, as well as total vegetation cover. In contrast, after >44 years, functional groups had not recovered to the pre-fire state. Burnt areas had lower lichen and higher bryophyte and shrub cover. The dominating shrub species, Betula nana, exhibited a higher vitality (higher specific leaf area and plant height) on burnt compared with control plots, suggesting a fire legacy effect in shrub growth. Our results confirm patterns of shrub encroachment after fire that were detected before in other parts of the Arctic and Subarctic. In the so far poorly studied Western Siberian forest tundra we demonstrate for the first time, long-term fire-legacies on the functional composition of relatively dry shrub- and lichen-dominated vegetation.

scholarly journals 40 years High Arctic climatological dataset of the Polish Polar Station Hornsund (SW Spitsbergen, Svalbard)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomasz Wawrzyniak ◽  
Marzena Osuch
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Data Series ◽  
Annual Data ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Atlantic Sector ◽  
Svalbard Archipelago

Abstract. The article presents the climatological dataset from the Polish Polar Station Hornsund located in the SW part of Spitsbergen - the biggest island of the Svalbard Archipelago. Due to a general lack of long-term in situ measurements and observations, the high Arctic remains one of the largest climate‐data deficient regions on the Earth, so described series is of unique value. To draw conclusions on the climatic changes in the Arctic, it is necessary to analyse the long-term series of continuous, systematic, in situ observations from different locations and comparing the corresponding data, rather than rely on the climatic simulations only. In recent decades, rapid environmental changes occurring in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic are reflected in the data series collected by the operational monitoring conducted at the Hornsund Station. We demonstrate the results of the 40 years-long series of observations. Climatological mean values or totals are given, and we also examined the variability of meteorological variables at monthly and annual scale using the modified Mann-Kendall test for trend and Sen’s method. The relevant daily, monthly, and annual data are provided on the PANGAEA repository (https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.909042, Wawrzyniak and Osuch, 2019).

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