Range shifts in a foundation sedge potentially induce large Arctic ecosystem carbon losses and gains
Abstract Foundation species have disproportionately large impacts on ecosystem structure and function. As a result, future changes to their distribution may be important determinants of ecosystem carbon (C) cycling in a warmer world. We assessed the role of a foundation tussock sedge ( Eriophorum va...
Published in: | Environmental Research Letters |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6005 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6005 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6005/pdf |
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crioppubl:10.1088/1748-9326/ac6005 2024-06-23T07:49:55+00:00 Range shifts in a foundation sedge potentially induce large Arctic ecosystem carbon losses and gains Curasi, Salvatore R Fetcher, Ned Hewitt, Rebecca E Lafleur, Peter M Loranty, Michael M Mack, Michelle C May, Jeremy L Myers-Smith, Isla H Natali, Susan M Oberbauer, Steven F Parker, Thomas C Sonnentag, Oliver Vargas Zesati, Sergio A Wullschleger, Stan D Rocha, Adrian V Natural Environment Research Council National Geographic National Science Foundation 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6005 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6005 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6005/pdf unknown IOP Publishing http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://iopscience.iop.org/info/page/text-and-data-mining Environmental Research Letters volume 17, issue 4, page 045024 ISSN 1748-9326 journal-article 2022 crioppubl https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6005 2024-06-10T04:11:26Z Abstract Foundation species have disproportionately large impacts on ecosystem structure and function. As a result, future changes to their distribution may be important determinants of ecosystem carbon (C) cycling in a warmer world. We assessed the role of a foundation tussock sedge ( Eriophorum vaginatum ) as a climatically vulnerable C stock using field data, a machine learning ecological niche model, and an ensemble of terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs). Field data indicated that tussock density has decreased by ∼0.97 tussocks per m 2 over the past ∼38 years on Alaska’s North Slope from ∼1981 to 2019. This declining trend is concerning because tussocks are a large Arctic C stock, which enhances soil organic layer C stocks by 6.9% on average and represents 745 Tg C across our study area. By 2100, we project that changes in tussock density may decrease the tussock C stock by 41% in regions where tussocks are currently abundant (e.g. −0.8 tussocks per m 2 and −85 Tg C on the North Slope) and may increase the tussock C stock by 46% in regions where tussocks are currently scarce (e.g. +0.9 tussocks per m 2 and +81 Tg C on Victoria Island). These climate-induced changes to the tussock C stock were comparable to, but sometimes opposite in sign, to vegetation C stock changes predicted by an ensemble of TBMs. Our results illustrate the important role of tussocks as a foundation species in determining future Arctic C stocks and highlight the need for better representation of this species in TBMs. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Eriophorum Victoria Island IOP Publishing Arctic Environmental Research Letters 17 4 045024 |
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IOP Publishing |
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crioppubl |
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Abstract Foundation species have disproportionately large impacts on ecosystem structure and function. As a result, future changes to their distribution may be important determinants of ecosystem carbon (C) cycling in a warmer world. We assessed the role of a foundation tussock sedge ( Eriophorum vaginatum ) as a climatically vulnerable C stock using field data, a machine learning ecological niche model, and an ensemble of terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs). Field data indicated that tussock density has decreased by ∼0.97 tussocks per m 2 over the past ∼38 years on Alaska’s North Slope from ∼1981 to 2019. This declining trend is concerning because tussocks are a large Arctic C stock, which enhances soil organic layer C stocks by 6.9% on average and represents 745 Tg C across our study area. By 2100, we project that changes in tussock density may decrease the tussock C stock by 41% in regions where tussocks are currently abundant (e.g. −0.8 tussocks per m 2 and −85 Tg C on the North Slope) and may increase the tussock C stock by 46% in regions where tussocks are currently scarce (e.g. +0.9 tussocks per m 2 and +81 Tg C on Victoria Island). These climate-induced changes to the tussock C stock were comparable to, but sometimes opposite in sign, to vegetation C stock changes predicted by an ensemble of TBMs. Our results illustrate the important role of tussocks as a foundation species in determining future Arctic C stocks and highlight the need for better representation of this species in TBMs. |
author2 |
Natural Environment Research Council National Geographic National Science Foundation |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Curasi, Salvatore R Fetcher, Ned Hewitt, Rebecca E Lafleur, Peter M Loranty, Michael M Mack, Michelle C May, Jeremy L Myers-Smith, Isla H Natali, Susan M Oberbauer, Steven F Parker, Thomas C Sonnentag, Oliver Vargas Zesati, Sergio A Wullschleger, Stan D Rocha, Adrian V |
spellingShingle |
Curasi, Salvatore R Fetcher, Ned Hewitt, Rebecca E Lafleur, Peter M Loranty, Michael M Mack, Michelle C May, Jeremy L Myers-Smith, Isla H Natali, Susan M Oberbauer, Steven F Parker, Thomas C Sonnentag, Oliver Vargas Zesati, Sergio A Wullschleger, Stan D Rocha, Adrian V Range shifts in a foundation sedge potentially induce large Arctic ecosystem carbon losses and gains |
author_facet |
Curasi, Salvatore R Fetcher, Ned Hewitt, Rebecca E Lafleur, Peter M Loranty, Michael M Mack, Michelle C May, Jeremy L Myers-Smith, Isla H Natali, Susan M Oberbauer, Steven F Parker, Thomas C Sonnentag, Oliver Vargas Zesati, Sergio A Wullschleger, Stan D Rocha, Adrian V |
author_sort |
Curasi, Salvatore R |
title |
Range shifts in a foundation sedge potentially induce large Arctic ecosystem carbon losses and gains |
title_short |
Range shifts in a foundation sedge potentially induce large Arctic ecosystem carbon losses and gains |
title_full |
Range shifts in a foundation sedge potentially induce large Arctic ecosystem carbon losses and gains |
title_fullStr |
Range shifts in a foundation sedge potentially induce large Arctic ecosystem carbon losses and gains |
title_full_unstemmed |
Range shifts in a foundation sedge potentially induce large Arctic ecosystem carbon losses and gains |
title_sort |
range shifts in a foundation sedge potentially induce large arctic ecosystem carbon losses and gains |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6005 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6005 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6005/pdf |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Eriophorum Victoria Island |
genre_facet |
Arctic Eriophorum Victoria Island |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters volume 17, issue 4, page 045024 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/ac6005 |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
17 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
045024 |
_version_ |
1802640649085779968 |