Winters are changing: snow effects on Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems
Snow is an important driver of ecosystem processes in cold biomes. Snow accumulation determines ground temperature, light conditions, and moisture availability during winter. It also affects the growing season’s start and end, and plant access to moisture and nutrients. Here, we review the current k...
Published in: | Arctic Science |
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Canadian Science Publishing
2022
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/as-2020-0058 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/as-2020-0058 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/as-2020-0058 |
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/as-2020-0058 2024-10-06T13:44:42+00:00 Winters are changing: snow effects on Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems Rixen, Christian Høye, Toke Thomas Macek, Petr Aerts, Rien Alatalo, Juha M. Anderson, Jill T. Arnold, Pieter A. Barrio, Isabel C Bjerke, Jarle W. Björkman, Mats P. Blok, Daan Blume-Werry, Gesche Boike, Julia Bokhorst, Stef Carbognani, Michele Christiansen, Casper T. Convey, Peter Cooper, Elisabeth J. Cornelissen, J. Hans C. Coulson, Stephen J. Dorrepaal, Ellen Elberling, Bo Elmendorf, Sarah C. Elphinstone, Cassandra Forte, T’ai G.W. Frei, Esther R. Geange, Sonya R. Gehrmann, Friederike Gibson, Casey Grogan, Paul Halbritter, Aud Helen Harte, John Henry, Gregory H.R. Inouye, David W. Irwin, Rebecca E. Jespersen, Gus Jónsdóttir, Ingibjörg Svala Jung, Ji Young Klinges, David H. Kudo, Gaku Lämsä, Juho Lee, Hanna Lembrechts, Jonas J. Lett, Signe Lynn, Joshua Scott Mann, Hjalte M.R. Mastepanov, Mikhail Morse, Jennifer Myers-Smith, Isla H. Olofsson, Johan 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/as-2020-0058 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/as-2020-0058 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/as-2020-0058 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Arctic Science volume 8, issue 3, page 572-608 ISSN 2368-7460 2368-7460 journal-article 2022 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2020-0058 2024-09-12T04:13:26Z Snow is an important driver of ecosystem processes in cold biomes. Snow accumulation determines ground temperature, light conditions, and moisture availability during winter. It also affects the growing season’s start and end, and plant access to moisture and nutrients. Here, we review the current knowledge of the snow cover’s role for vegetation, plant-animal interactions, permafrost conditions, microbial processes, and biogeochemical cycling. We also compare studies of natural snow gradients with snow experimental manipulation studies to assess time scale difference of these approaches. The number of tundra snow studies has increased considerably in recent years, yet we still lack a comprehensive overview of how altered snow conditions will affect these ecosystems. Specifically, we found a mismatch in the timing of snowmelt when comparing studies of natural snow gradients with snow manipulations. We found that snowmelt timing achieved by snow addition and snow removal manipulations (average 7.9 days advance and 5.5 days delay, respectively) were substantially lower than the temporal variation over natural spatial gradients within a given year (mean range 56 days) or among years (mean range 32 days). Differences between snow study approaches need to be accounted for when projecting snow dynamics and their impact on ecosystems in future climates. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic permafrost Tundra Canadian Science Publishing Arctic Arctic Science |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Canadian Science Publishing |
op_collection_id |
crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
description |
Snow is an important driver of ecosystem processes in cold biomes. Snow accumulation determines ground temperature, light conditions, and moisture availability during winter. It also affects the growing season’s start and end, and plant access to moisture and nutrients. Here, we review the current knowledge of the snow cover’s role for vegetation, plant-animal interactions, permafrost conditions, microbial processes, and biogeochemical cycling. We also compare studies of natural snow gradients with snow experimental manipulation studies to assess time scale difference of these approaches. The number of tundra snow studies has increased considerably in recent years, yet we still lack a comprehensive overview of how altered snow conditions will affect these ecosystems. Specifically, we found a mismatch in the timing of snowmelt when comparing studies of natural snow gradients with snow manipulations. We found that snowmelt timing achieved by snow addition and snow removal manipulations (average 7.9 days advance and 5.5 days delay, respectively) were substantially lower than the temporal variation over natural spatial gradients within a given year (mean range 56 days) or among years (mean range 32 days). Differences between snow study approaches need to be accounted for when projecting snow dynamics and their impact on ecosystems in future climates. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rixen, Christian Høye, Toke Thomas Macek, Petr Aerts, Rien Alatalo, Juha M. Anderson, Jill T. Arnold, Pieter A. Barrio, Isabel C Bjerke, Jarle W. Björkman, Mats P. Blok, Daan Blume-Werry, Gesche Boike, Julia Bokhorst, Stef Carbognani, Michele Christiansen, Casper T. Convey, Peter Cooper, Elisabeth J. Cornelissen, J. Hans C. Coulson, Stephen J. Dorrepaal, Ellen Elberling, Bo Elmendorf, Sarah C. Elphinstone, Cassandra Forte, T’ai G.W. Frei, Esther R. Geange, Sonya R. Gehrmann, Friederike Gibson, Casey Grogan, Paul Halbritter, Aud Helen Harte, John Henry, Gregory H.R. Inouye, David W. Irwin, Rebecca E. Jespersen, Gus Jónsdóttir, Ingibjörg Svala Jung, Ji Young Klinges, David H. Kudo, Gaku Lämsä, Juho Lee, Hanna Lembrechts, Jonas J. Lett, Signe Lynn, Joshua Scott Mann, Hjalte M.R. Mastepanov, Mikhail Morse, Jennifer Myers-Smith, Isla H. Olofsson, Johan |
spellingShingle |
Rixen, Christian Høye, Toke Thomas Macek, Petr Aerts, Rien Alatalo, Juha M. Anderson, Jill T. Arnold, Pieter A. Barrio, Isabel C Bjerke, Jarle W. Björkman, Mats P. Blok, Daan Blume-Werry, Gesche Boike, Julia Bokhorst, Stef Carbognani, Michele Christiansen, Casper T. Convey, Peter Cooper, Elisabeth J. Cornelissen, J. Hans C. Coulson, Stephen J. Dorrepaal, Ellen Elberling, Bo Elmendorf, Sarah C. Elphinstone, Cassandra Forte, T’ai G.W. Frei, Esther R. Geange, Sonya R. Gehrmann, Friederike Gibson, Casey Grogan, Paul Halbritter, Aud Helen Harte, John Henry, Gregory H.R. Inouye, David W. Irwin, Rebecca E. Jespersen, Gus Jónsdóttir, Ingibjörg Svala Jung, Ji Young Klinges, David H. Kudo, Gaku Lämsä, Juho Lee, Hanna Lembrechts, Jonas J. Lett, Signe Lynn, Joshua Scott Mann, Hjalte M.R. Mastepanov, Mikhail Morse, Jennifer Myers-Smith, Isla H. Olofsson, Johan Winters are changing: snow effects on Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems |
author_facet |
Rixen, Christian Høye, Toke Thomas Macek, Petr Aerts, Rien Alatalo, Juha M. Anderson, Jill T. Arnold, Pieter A. Barrio, Isabel C Bjerke, Jarle W. Björkman, Mats P. Blok, Daan Blume-Werry, Gesche Boike, Julia Bokhorst, Stef Carbognani, Michele Christiansen, Casper T. Convey, Peter Cooper, Elisabeth J. Cornelissen, J. Hans C. Coulson, Stephen J. Dorrepaal, Ellen Elberling, Bo Elmendorf, Sarah C. Elphinstone, Cassandra Forte, T’ai G.W. Frei, Esther R. Geange, Sonya R. Gehrmann, Friederike Gibson, Casey Grogan, Paul Halbritter, Aud Helen Harte, John Henry, Gregory H.R. Inouye, David W. Irwin, Rebecca E. Jespersen, Gus Jónsdóttir, Ingibjörg Svala Jung, Ji Young Klinges, David H. Kudo, Gaku Lämsä, Juho Lee, Hanna Lembrechts, Jonas J. Lett, Signe Lynn, Joshua Scott Mann, Hjalte M.R. Mastepanov, Mikhail Morse, Jennifer Myers-Smith, Isla H. Olofsson, Johan |
author_sort |
Rixen, Christian |
title |
Winters are changing: snow effects on Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems |
title_short |
Winters are changing: snow effects on Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems |
title_full |
Winters are changing: snow effects on Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems |
title_fullStr |
Winters are changing: snow effects on Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems |
title_full_unstemmed |
Winters are changing: snow effects on Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems |
title_sort |
winters are changing: snow effects on arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/as-2020-0058 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/as-2020-0058 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/as-2020-0058 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Arctic permafrost Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic permafrost Tundra |
op_source |
Arctic Science volume 8, issue 3, page 572-608 ISSN 2368-7460 2368-7460 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2020-0058 |
container_title |
Arctic Science |
_version_ |
1812173151500500992 |