The sensitivity of phenological events to changes in nutrient availability for several plant growth forms in the arctic

• Published in: Ecography
• Main Authors: Larigauderie, Anne, Kummerow, Jochen
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1991
• Subjects: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Arctic; Northern Foothills; Brooks Range; Tundra; Alaska
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0587.1991.tb00631.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1600-0587.1991.tb00631.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1600-0587.1991.tb00631.x

The purpose of the experiment was to see whether a change in nutrient availability resulting from perturbations might alter rates of development of the major plant growth forms of an arctic tussock tundra slope. Slow release fertilizer pellets (NPK) were spread in June and July 1985 on the frost surface under an 8‐20 cm thick layer of thawed tundra in the northern foothills of the Brooks Range, Alaska. Initiation day of main phenological events, their duration and their intensity (% plants reaching a phenophase in a plot) were recorded during the 1985, 1986 and 1987 growing season. Variations in initiation day of phenophases were mainly due to environmental variations among years and to a lesser degree to fertilization; only timing of vegetative bud break of evergreen shrubs was significantly affected by fertilization, and occurred earlier than in the control. Flowering intensity varied significantly from one year to an other but was not significantly stimulated by fertilization.