Four Decades of Plant Community Change in the Alpine Tundra of Southwest Yukon, Canada
Repeat measurements from long-term plots provide precise data for studying plant community change. In 2010, we visited a remote location in Yukon, Canada, where a detailed survey of alpine tundra communities was conducted in 1968. Plant community composition was resurveyed on the same four slopes us...
Published in: | AMBIO |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
2011
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-011-0172-2 |
id |
ftbioone:10.1007/s13280-011-0172-2 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftbioone:10.1007/s13280-011-0172-2 2024-06-02T08:15:24+00:00 Four Decades of Plant Community Change in the Alpine Tundra of Southwest Yukon, Canada Ryan K. Danby Saewan Koh David S. Hik Larry W. Price Ryan K. Danby Saewan Koh David S. Hik Larry W. Price world 2011-09-01 text/HTML https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-011-0172-2 en eng Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences doi:10.1007/s13280-011-0172-2 All rights reserved. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-011-0172-2 Text 2011 ftbioone https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-011-0172-2 2024-05-07T00:47:03Z Repeat measurements from long-term plots provide precise data for studying plant community change. In 2010, we visited a remote location in Yukon, Canada, where a detailed survey of alpine tundra communities was conducted in 1968. Plant community composition was resurveyed on the same four slopes using the same methods as the original study. Species richness and diversity increased significantly over the 42 years and non-metric multidimensional scaling indicated that community composition had also changed significantly. However, the direction and magnitude of change varied with aspect. Dominant species were not replaced or eliminated but, instead, declined in relative importance. Fine-scale changes in vegetation were evident from repeat photography and dendro-ecological analysis of erect shrubs, supporting the community-level analysis. The period of study corresponds to a mean annual temperature increase of 2°C, suggesting that climate warming has influenced these changes. Text Tundra Yukon BioOne Online Journals Canada Yukon AMBIO 40 6 660 671 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
BioOne Online Journals |
op_collection_id |
ftbioone |
language |
English |
description |
Repeat measurements from long-term plots provide precise data for studying plant community change. In 2010, we visited a remote location in Yukon, Canada, where a detailed survey of alpine tundra communities was conducted in 1968. Plant community composition was resurveyed on the same four slopes using the same methods as the original study. Species richness and diversity increased significantly over the 42 years and non-metric multidimensional scaling indicated that community composition had also changed significantly. However, the direction and magnitude of change varied with aspect. Dominant species were not replaced or eliminated but, instead, declined in relative importance. Fine-scale changes in vegetation were evident from repeat photography and dendro-ecological analysis of erect shrubs, supporting the community-level analysis. The period of study corresponds to a mean annual temperature increase of 2°C, suggesting that climate warming has influenced these changes. |
author2 |
Ryan K. Danby Saewan Koh David S. Hik Larry W. Price |
format |
Text |
author |
Ryan K. Danby Saewan Koh David S. Hik Larry W. Price |
spellingShingle |
Ryan K. Danby Saewan Koh David S. Hik Larry W. Price Four Decades of Plant Community Change in the Alpine Tundra of Southwest Yukon, Canada |
author_facet |
Ryan K. Danby Saewan Koh David S. Hik Larry W. Price |
author_sort |
Ryan K. Danby |
title |
Four Decades of Plant Community Change in the Alpine Tundra of Southwest Yukon, Canada |
title_short |
Four Decades of Plant Community Change in the Alpine Tundra of Southwest Yukon, Canada |
title_full |
Four Decades of Plant Community Change in the Alpine Tundra of Southwest Yukon, Canada |
title_fullStr |
Four Decades of Plant Community Change in the Alpine Tundra of Southwest Yukon, Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Four Decades of Plant Community Change in the Alpine Tundra of Southwest Yukon, Canada |
title_sort |
four decades of plant community change in the alpine tundra of southwest yukon, canada |
publisher |
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-011-0172-2 |
op_coverage |
world |
geographic |
Canada Yukon |
geographic_facet |
Canada Yukon |
genre |
Tundra Yukon |
genre_facet |
Tundra Yukon |
op_source |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-011-0172-2 |
op_relation |
doi:10.1007/s13280-011-0172-2 |
op_rights |
All rights reserved. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-011-0172-2 |
container_title |
AMBIO |
container_volume |
40 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
660 |
op_container_end_page |
671 |
_version_ |
1800739572078870528 |