Shrubs and Degraded Permafrost Pave the Way for Tree Establishment in Subarctic Peatlands
Abstract Arctic and subarctic ecosystems are changing rapidly in species composition and functioning as they warm twice as fast as the global average. It has been suggested that tree-less boreal landscapes may shift abruptly to tree-dominated states as climate warms. Yet, we insufficiently understan...
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Springer Science and Business Media LLC
2020
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10021-020-00523-6 http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10021-020-00523-6.pdf http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10021-020-00523-6/fulltext.html |
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crspringernat:10.1007/s10021-020-00523-6 2023-05-15T14:59:26+02:00 Shrubs and Degraded Permafrost Pave the Way for Tree Establishment in Subarctic Peatlands Limpens, Juul Fijen, Thijs P. M. Keizer, Iris Meijer, Johan Olsthoorn, Fanny Pereira, Ana Postma, Roel Suyker, Mariette Vasander, Harri Holmgren, Milena H2020 Research Infrastructures Stichting Fonds Dr. Christine Buisman University of Helsinki Schure-Beijerinck-Popping Fonds 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10021-020-00523-6 http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10021-020-00523-6.pdf http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10021-020-00523-6/fulltext.html en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Ecosystems volume 24, issue 2, page 370-383 ISSN 1432-9840 1435-0629 Ecology Environmental Chemistry Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2020 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-020-00523-6 2022-01-04T13:39:32Z Abstract Arctic and subarctic ecosystems are changing rapidly in species composition and functioning as they warm twice as fast as the global average. It has been suggested that tree-less boreal landscapes may shift abruptly to tree-dominated states as climate warms. Yet, we insufficiently understand the conditions and mechanisms underlying tree establishment in the subarctic and arctic regions to anticipate how climate change may further affect ecosystem structure and functioning. We conducted a field experiment to assess the role of permafrost presence, micro-topography and shrub canopy on tree establishment in almost tree-less subarctic peatlands of northern Finland. We introduced seeds and seedlings of four tree-line species and monitored seedling survival and environmental conditions for six growing seasons. Our results show that once seedlings have emerged, the absence of permafrost can enhance early tree seedling survival, but shrub cover is the most important driver of subsequent tree seedling survival in subarctic peatlands. Tree seedling survival was twice as high under an intact shrub canopy than in open conditions after shrub canopy removal. Under unclipped control conditions, seedling survival was positively associated with dense shrub canopies for half of the tree species studied. These strong positive interactions between shrubs and trees may facilitate the transition from today’s treeless subarctic landscapes towards tree-dominated states. Our results suggest that climate warming may accelerate this vegetation shift as permafrost is lost, and shrubs further expand across the subarctic. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change Northern Finland permafrost Subarctic Springer Nature (via Crossref) Arctic Ecosystems 24 2 370 383 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
Ecology Environmental Chemistry Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
spellingShingle |
Ecology Environmental Chemistry Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Limpens, Juul Fijen, Thijs P. M. Keizer, Iris Meijer, Johan Olsthoorn, Fanny Pereira, Ana Postma, Roel Suyker, Mariette Vasander, Harri Holmgren, Milena Shrubs and Degraded Permafrost Pave the Way for Tree Establishment in Subarctic Peatlands |
topic_facet |
Ecology Environmental Chemistry Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Abstract Arctic and subarctic ecosystems are changing rapidly in species composition and functioning as they warm twice as fast as the global average. It has been suggested that tree-less boreal landscapes may shift abruptly to tree-dominated states as climate warms. Yet, we insufficiently understand the conditions and mechanisms underlying tree establishment in the subarctic and arctic regions to anticipate how climate change may further affect ecosystem structure and functioning. We conducted a field experiment to assess the role of permafrost presence, micro-topography and shrub canopy on tree establishment in almost tree-less subarctic peatlands of northern Finland. We introduced seeds and seedlings of four tree-line species and monitored seedling survival and environmental conditions for six growing seasons. Our results show that once seedlings have emerged, the absence of permafrost can enhance early tree seedling survival, but shrub cover is the most important driver of subsequent tree seedling survival in subarctic peatlands. Tree seedling survival was twice as high under an intact shrub canopy than in open conditions after shrub canopy removal. Under unclipped control conditions, seedling survival was positively associated with dense shrub canopies for half of the tree species studied. These strong positive interactions between shrubs and trees may facilitate the transition from today’s treeless subarctic landscapes towards tree-dominated states. Our results suggest that climate warming may accelerate this vegetation shift as permafrost is lost, and shrubs further expand across the subarctic. |
author2 |
H2020 Research Infrastructures Stichting Fonds Dr. Christine Buisman University of Helsinki Schure-Beijerinck-Popping Fonds |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Limpens, Juul Fijen, Thijs P. M. Keizer, Iris Meijer, Johan Olsthoorn, Fanny Pereira, Ana Postma, Roel Suyker, Mariette Vasander, Harri Holmgren, Milena |
author_facet |
Limpens, Juul Fijen, Thijs P. M. Keizer, Iris Meijer, Johan Olsthoorn, Fanny Pereira, Ana Postma, Roel Suyker, Mariette Vasander, Harri Holmgren, Milena |
author_sort |
Limpens, Juul |
title |
Shrubs and Degraded Permafrost Pave the Way for Tree Establishment in Subarctic Peatlands |
title_short |
Shrubs and Degraded Permafrost Pave the Way for Tree Establishment in Subarctic Peatlands |
title_full |
Shrubs and Degraded Permafrost Pave the Way for Tree Establishment in Subarctic Peatlands |
title_fullStr |
Shrubs and Degraded Permafrost Pave the Way for Tree Establishment in Subarctic Peatlands |
title_full_unstemmed |
Shrubs and Degraded Permafrost Pave the Way for Tree Establishment in Subarctic Peatlands |
title_sort |
shrubs and degraded permafrost pave the way for tree establishment in subarctic peatlands |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10021-020-00523-6 http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10021-020-00523-6.pdf http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10021-020-00523-6/fulltext.html |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Climate change Northern Finland permafrost Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change Northern Finland permafrost Subarctic |
op_source |
Ecosystems volume 24, issue 2, page 370-383 ISSN 1432-9840 1435-0629 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-020-00523-6 |
container_title |
Ecosystems |
container_volume |
24 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
370 |
op_container_end_page |
383 |
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1766331537601593344 |