Recent Growth and Expansion of Birch Shrubs Across a Low Arctic Landscape in Continental Canada: Are These Responses More a Consequence of the Severely Declining Caribou Herd than of Climate Warming?

• Published in: Ecosystems
• Main Authors: Andruko, Rhett, Danby, Ryan, Grogan, Paul
• Other Authors: Polar Knowledge Canada, Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Science and Business Media LLC 2020
• Subjects: Ecology; Environmental Chemistry; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Arctic; Canada; Daring Lake; Climate change; Dwarf birch
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10021-019-00474-7; http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10021-019-00474-7.pdf; http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10021-019-00474-7/fulltext.html

Abstract The recent widespread expansion of deciduous shrubs across much of the Arctic has been largely attributed to climate warming. This study investigated decadal growth rates of dwarf birch ( Betula glandulosa ) across a low Arctic landscape in the continental interior of Canada. Detailed birch...