1195

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: permafrost; Tundra
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.419.7943; http://www.lter.uaf.edu/pdf/1452_McGuire_Chapin_2010.pdf

A major challenge facing society is to understand and predict the patterns and rates of change in regional systems in response to directional changes in physical, biological, and social drivers (Chapin et al. 2009). The boreal forest is an ideal region in which to explore the dynamics of change for several reasons (Berkes 2008; Chapin et al. 2006; Hinzman et al. 2005; McGuire et al. 2006). (1) Its cultures and natural ecosystems are relatively intact, making it easier to understand the natural coupling of physical, biological, and social components of regional systems. (2) The biophysical and social drivers of regional processes are changing rapidly. In particular, there has been substantial climate warming in the last 30 years. (3) Climatically sensitive processes include permafrost dynamics, fire dynamics, movement of the forest–tundra boundary, and outbreak behavior of key forest mammals and