A narrow window of summer temperatures associated with shrub growth in Arctic Alaska
Abstract Warming in recent decades has triggered shrub expansion in Arctic and alpine tundra, which is transforming these temperature-limited ecosystems and altering carbon and nutrient cycles, fire regimes, permafrost stability, land-surface climate-feedbacks, and wildlife habitat. Where and when A...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab897f https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab897f/pdf https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab897f |
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crioppubl:10.1088/1748-9326/ab897f 2024-09-30T14:30:21+00:00 A narrow window of summer temperatures associated with shrub growth in Arctic Alaska Andreu-Hayles, Laia Gaglioti, Benjamin V Berner, Logan T Levesque, Mathieu Anchukaitis, Kevin J Goetz, Scott J D’Arrigo, Rosanne NASA ABoVE Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing, National Science Foundation 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab897f https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab897f/pdf https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab897f unknown IOP Publishing http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://iopscience.iop.org/info/page/text-and-data-mining Environmental Research Letters volume 15, issue 10, page 105012 ISSN 1748-9326 journal-article 2020 crioppubl https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab897f 2024-09-17T04:18:23Z Abstract Warming in recent decades has triggered shrub expansion in Arctic and alpine tundra, which is transforming these temperature-limited ecosystems and altering carbon and nutrient cycles, fire regimes, permafrost stability, land-surface climate-feedbacks, and wildlife habitat. Where and when Arctic shrub expansion happens in the future will depend in part on how different shrub communities respond to warming air temperatures. Here, we analyze a shrub ring-width network of 18 sites consisting of Salix spp. and Alnus viridis growing across the North Slope of Alaska (68–71 ° N; 164–149 ° W) to assess shrub temperature sensitivity and compare radial growth patterns with satellite NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) data since 1982. Regardless of site conditions and taxa, all shrubs shared a common year-to-year growth variability and had a positive response to daily maximum air temperatures (Tmax) from ca. May 31 (i.e. Tmax ∼6 ° C) to early July (i.e. Tmax ∼12 ° C), two-thirds of which were significant correlations. Thus, the month of June had the highest shrub growth-temperature sensitivity. This period coincides with the seasonal increase in temperature and phenological green up on the North Slope indicated by both field observations and the seasonal cycle of NDVI (a proxy of photosynthetic activity). Nearly all of the sampled shrubs (98%) initiated their growth after 1960, with 74% initiated since 1980. This post-1980 shrub-recruitment pulse coincided with ∼2 °C warmer June temperatures compared to prior periods, as well as with positive trends in shrub basal area increments and peak summer NDVI. Significant correlations between shrub growth and peak summer NDVI indicate these radial growth patterns in shrubs reflect tundra productivity at a broader scale and that tundra vegetation on the North Slope of Alaska underwent a greening trend between 1980 and 2012. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic north slope permafrost Tundra Alaska IOP Publishing Arctic Environmental Research Letters 15 10 105012 |
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IOP Publishing |
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Abstract Warming in recent decades has triggered shrub expansion in Arctic and alpine tundra, which is transforming these temperature-limited ecosystems and altering carbon and nutrient cycles, fire regimes, permafrost stability, land-surface climate-feedbacks, and wildlife habitat. Where and when Arctic shrub expansion happens in the future will depend in part on how different shrub communities respond to warming air temperatures. Here, we analyze a shrub ring-width network of 18 sites consisting of Salix spp. and Alnus viridis growing across the North Slope of Alaska (68–71 ° N; 164–149 ° W) to assess shrub temperature sensitivity and compare radial growth patterns with satellite NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) data since 1982. Regardless of site conditions and taxa, all shrubs shared a common year-to-year growth variability and had a positive response to daily maximum air temperatures (Tmax) from ca. May 31 (i.e. Tmax ∼6 ° C) to early July (i.e. Tmax ∼12 ° C), two-thirds of which were significant correlations. Thus, the month of June had the highest shrub growth-temperature sensitivity. This period coincides with the seasonal increase in temperature and phenological green up on the North Slope indicated by both field observations and the seasonal cycle of NDVI (a proxy of photosynthetic activity). Nearly all of the sampled shrubs (98%) initiated their growth after 1960, with 74% initiated since 1980. This post-1980 shrub-recruitment pulse coincided with ∼2 °C warmer June temperatures compared to prior periods, as well as with positive trends in shrub basal area increments and peak summer NDVI. Significant correlations between shrub growth and peak summer NDVI indicate these radial growth patterns in shrubs reflect tundra productivity at a broader scale and that tundra vegetation on the North Slope of Alaska underwent a greening trend between 1980 and 2012. |
author2 |
NASA ABoVE Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing, National Science Foundation |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Andreu-Hayles, Laia Gaglioti, Benjamin V Berner, Logan T Levesque, Mathieu Anchukaitis, Kevin J Goetz, Scott J D’Arrigo, Rosanne |
spellingShingle |
Andreu-Hayles, Laia Gaglioti, Benjamin V Berner, Logan T Levesque, Mathieu Anchukaitis, Kevin J Goetz, Scott J D’Arrigo, Rosanne A narrow window of summer temperatures associated with shrub growth in Arctic Alaska |
author_facet |
Andreu-Hayles, Laia Gaglioti, Benjamin V Berner, Logan T Levesque, Mathieu Anchukaitis, Kevin J Goetz, Scott J D’Arrigo, Rosanne |
author_sort |
Andreu-Hayles, Laia |
title |
A narrow window of summer temperatures associated with shrub growth in Arctic Alaska |
title_short |
A narrow window of summer temperatures associated with shrub growth in Arctic Alaska |
title_full |
A narrow window of summer temperatures associated with shrub growth in Arctic Alaska |
title_fullStr |
A narrow window of summer temperatures associated with shrub growth in Arctic Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
A narrow window of summer temperatures associated with shrub growth in Arctic Alaska |
title_sort |
narrow window of summer temperatures associated with shrub growth in arctic alaska |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab897f https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab897f/pdf https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab897f |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic north slope permafrost Tundra Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic north slope permafrost Tundra Alaska |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters volume 15, issue 10, page 105012 ISSN 1748-9326 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://iopscience.iop.org/info/page/text-and-data-mining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab897f |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
105012 |
_version_ |
1811635336271364096 |