Non‐linear shift from grassland to shrubland in temperate barrier islands
Woody plant encroachment into grasslands is a major land cover change taking place in many regions of the world, including arctic, alpine and desert ecosystems. This change in plant dominance is also affecting coastal ecosystems, including barrier islands, which are known for being vulnerable to the...
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt9cv689r2 2023-11-05T03:39:28+01:00 Non‐linear shift from grassland to shrubland in temperate barrier islands Huang, Heng Zinnert, Julie C Wood, Lauren K Young, Donald R D'Odorico, Paolo 1671 - 1681 2018-07-01 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9cv689r2 unknown eScholarship, University of California qt9cv689r2 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9cv689r2 public Ecology, vol 99, iss 7 Biological Sciences Ecology Climate Action Arctic Regions Ecosystem Grassland Islands Poaceae alternative stable states climate change cold intolerance ecosystem stability Morella cerifera regime shifts resilience shrub encroachment vegetation-microclimate feedback Ecological Applications Evolutionary Biology Zoology article 2018 ftcdlib 2023-10-09T18:08:15Z Woody plant encroachment into grasslands is a major land cover change taking place in many regions of the world, including arctic, alpine and desert ecosystems. This change in plant dominance is also affecting coastal ecosystems, including barrier islands, which are known for being vulnerable to the effects of climate change. In the last century, the woody plant species Morella cerifera L. (Myricaceae), has encroached into grass covered swales in many of the barrier islands of Virginia along the Atlantic seaboard. The abrupt shift to shrub cover in these islands could result from positive feedbacks with the physical environment, though the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. We use a combination of experimental and modeling approaches to investigate the role of climate warming and the ability of M.cerifera to mitigate its microclimate thereby leading to the emergence of alternative stable states in barrier island vegetation. Nighttime air temperatures were significantly higher in myrtle shrublands than grasslands, particularly in the winter season. The difference in the mean of the 5% and 10% lowest minimum temperatures between shrubland and grassland calculated from two independent datasets ranged from 1.3 to 2.4°C. The model results clearly show that a small increase in near-surface temperature can induce a non-linear shift in ecosystem state from a stable state with no shrubs to an alternative stable state dominated by M.cerifera. This modeling framework improves our understanding and prediction of barrier island vegetation stability and resilience under climate change, and highlights the existence of important nonlinearities and hystereses that limit the reversibility of this ongoing shift in vegetation dominance. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change University of California: eScholarship |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Biological Sciences Ecology Climate Action Arctic Regions Ecosystem Grassland Islands Poaceae alternative stable states climate change cold intolerance ecosystem stability Morella cerifera regime shifts resilience shrub encroachment vegetation-microclimate feedback Ecological Applications Evolutionary Biology Zoology |
spellingShingle |
Biological Sciences Ecology Climate Action Arctic Regions Ecosystem Grassland Islands Poaceae alternative stable states climate change cold intolerance ecosystem stability Morella cerifera regime shifts resilience shrub encroachment vegetation-microclimate feedback Ecological Applications Evolutionary Biology Zoology Huang, Heng Zinnert, Julie C Wood, Lauren K Young, Donald R D'Odorico, Paolo Non‐linear shift from grassland to shrubland in temperate barrier islands |
topic_facet |
Biological Sciences Ecology Climate Action Arctic Regions Ecosystem Grassland Islands Poaceae alternative stable states climate change cold intolerance ecosystem stability Morella cerifera regime shifts resilience shrub encroachment vegetation-microclimate feedback Ecological Applications Evolutionary Biology Zoology |
description |
Woody plant encroachment into grasslands is a major land cover change taking place in many regions of the world, including arctic, alpine and desert ecosystems. This change in plant dominance is also affecting coastal ecosystems, including barrier islands, which are known for being vulnerable to the effects of climate change. In the last century, the woody plant species Morella cerifera L. (Myricaceae), has encroached into grass covered swales in many of the barrier islands of Virginia along the Atlantic seaboard. The abrupt shift to shrub cover in these islands could result from positive feedbacks with the physical environment, though the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. We use a combination of experimental and modeling approaches to investigate the role of climate warming and the ability of M.cerifera to mitigate its microclimate thereby leading to the emergence of alternative stable states in barrier island vegetation. Nighttime air temperatures were significantly higher in myrtle shrublands than grasslands, particularly in the winter season. The difference in the mean of the 5% and 10% lowest minimum temperatures between shrubland and grassland calculated from two independent datasets ranged from 1.3 to 2.4°C. The model results clearly show that a small increase in near-surface temperature can induce a non-linear shift in ecosystem state from a stable state with no shrubs to an alternative stable state dominated by M.cerifera. This modeling framework improves our understanding and prediction of barrier island vegetation stability and resilience under climate change, and highlights the existence of important nonlinearities and hystereses that limit the reversibility of this ongoing shift in vegetation dominance. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Huang, Heng Zinnert, Julie C Wood, Lauren K Young, Donald R D'Odorico, Paolo |
author_facet |
Huang, Heng Zinnert, Julie C Wood, Lauren K Young, Donald R D'Odorico, Paolo |
author_sort |
Huang, Heng |
title |
Non‐linear shift from grassland to shrubland in temperate barrier islands |
title_short |
Non‐linear shift from grassland to shrubland in temperate barrier islands |
title_full |
Non‐linear shift from grassland to shrubland in temperate barrier islands |
title_fullStr |
Non‐linear shift from grassland to shrubland in temperate barrier islands |
title_full_unstemmed |
Non‐linear shift from grassland to shrubland in temperate barrier islands |
title_sort |
non‐linear shift from grassland to shrubland in temperate barrier islands |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9cv689r2 |
op_coverage |
1671 - 1681 |
genre |
Arctic Climate change |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change |
op_source |
Ecology, vol 99, iss 7 |
op_relation |
qt9cv689r2 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9cv689r2 |
op_rights |
public |
_version_ |
1781695293109043200 |