Long-term monitoring at multiple trophic levels suggests heterogeneity in responses to climate change in the Canadian Arctic tundra
Arctic wildlife is often presented as being highly at risk in the face of current climate warming. We use the long-term (up to 24 years) monitoring records available on Bylot Island in the Canadian Arctic to examine temporal trends in population attributes of several terrestrial vertebrates and in p...
Published in: | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0482 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rstb.2012.0482 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rstb.2012.0482 |
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rstb.2012.0482 2024-10-13T14:04:57+00:00 Long-term monitoring at multiple trophic levels suggests heterogeneity in responses to climate change in the Canadian Arctic tundra Gauthier, Gilles Bêty, Joël Cadieux, Marie-Christine Legagneux, Pierre Doiron, Madeleine Chevallier, Clément Lai, Sandra Tarroux, Arnaud Berteaux, Dominique 2013 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0482 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rstb.2012.0482 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rstb.2012.0482 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 368, issue 1624, page 20120482 ISSN 0962-8436 1471-2970 journal-article 2013 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0482 2024-09-17T04:34:48Z Arctic wildlife is often presented as being highly at risk in the face of current climate warming. We use the long-term (up to 24 years) monitoring records available on Bylot Island in the Canadian Arctic to examine temporal trends in population attributes of several terrestrial vertebrates and in primary production. Despite a warming trend (e.g. cumulative annual thawing degree-days increased by 37% and snow-melt date advanced by 4–7 days over a 23-year period), we found little evidence for changes in the phenology, abundance or productivity of several vertebrate species (snow goose, foxes, lemmings, avian predators and one passerine). Only primary production showed a response to warming (annual above-ground biomass of wetland graminoids increased by 123% during this period). We nonetheless found evidence for potential mismatches between herbivores and their food plants in response to warming as snow geese adjusted their laying date by only 3.8 days on average for a change in snow-melt of 10 days, half of the corresponding adjustment shown by the timing of plant growth (7.1 days). We discuss several reasons (duration of time series, large annual variability, amplitude of observed climate change, nonlinear dynamic or constraints imposed by various rate of warming with latitude in migrants) to explain the lack of response by herbivores and predators to climate warming at our study site. We also show how length and intensity of monitoring could affect our ability to detect temporal trends and provide recommendations for future monitoring. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Bylot Island Climate change Tundra The Royal Society Arctic Bylot Island Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 368 1624 20120482 |
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Open Polar |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
Arctic wildlife is often presented as being highly at risk in the face of current climate warming. We use the long-term (up to 24 years) monitoring records available on Bylot Island in the Canadian Arctic to examine temporal trends in population attributes of several terrestrial vertebrates and in primary production. Despite a warming trend (e.g. cumulative annual thawing degree-days increased by 37% and snow-melt date advanced by 4–7 days over a 23-year period), we found little evidence for changes in the phenology, abundance or productivity of several vertebrate species (snow goose, foxes, lemmings, avian predators and one passerine). Only primary production showed a response to warming (annual above-ground biomass of wetland graminoids increased by 123% during this period). We nonetheless found evidence for potential mismatches between herbivores and their food plants in response to warming as snow geese adjusted their laying date by only 3.8 days on average for a change in snow-melt of 10 days, half of the corresponding adjustment shown by the timing of plant growth (7.1 days). We discuss several reasons (duration of time series, large annual variability, amplitude of observed climate change, nonlinear dynamic or constraints imposed by various rate of warming with latitude in migrants) to explain the lack of response by herbivores and predators to climate warming at our study site. We also show how length and intensity of monitoring could affect our ability to detect temporal trends and provide recommendations for future monitoring. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gauthier, Gilles Bêty, Joël Cadieux, Marie-Christine Legagneux, Pierre Doiron, Madeleine Chevallier, Clément Lai, Sandra Tarroux, Arnaud Berteaux, Dominique |
spellingShingle |
Gauthier, Gilles Bêty, Joël Cadieux, Marie-Christine Legagneux, Pierre Doiron, Madeleine Chevallier, Clément Lai, Sandra Tarroux, Arnaud Berteaux, Dominique Long-term monitoring at multiple trophic levels suggests heterogeneity in responses to climate change in the Canadian Arctic tundra |
author_facet |
Gauthier, Gilles Bêty, Joël Cadieux, Marie-Christine Legagneux, Pierre Doiron, Madeleine Chevallier, Clément Lai, Sandra Tarroux, Arnaud Berteaux, Dominique |
author_sort |
Gauthier, Gilles |
title |
Long-term monitoring at multiple trophic levels suggests heterogeneity in responses to climate change in the Canadian Arctic tundra |
title_short |
Long-term monitoring at multiple trophic levels suggests heterogeneity in responses to climate change in the Canadian Arctic tundra |
title_full |
Long-term monitoring at multiple trophic levels suggests heterogeneity in responses to climate change in the Canadian Arctic tundra |
title_fullStr |
Long-term monitoring at multiple trophic levels suggests heterogeneity in responses to climate change in the Canadian Arctic tundra |
title_full_unstemmed |
Long-term monitoring at multiple trophic levels suggests heterogeneity in responses to climate change in the Canadian Arctic tundra |
title_sort |
long-term monitoring at multiple trophic levels suggests heterogeneity in responses to climate change in the canadian arctic tundra |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0482 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rstb.2012.0482 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rstb.2012.0482 |
geographic |
Arctic Bylot Island |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Bylot Island |
genre |
Arctic Bylot Island Climate change Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Bylot Island Climate change Tundra |
op_source |
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 368, issue 1624, page 20120482 ISSN 0962-8436 1471-2970 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0482 |
container_title |
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
368 |
container_issue |
1624 |
container_start_page |
20120482 |
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1812810773740650496 |