DOI:10.1007/s10021-007-9024-0 Plant Species Composition and Productivity following Permafrost Thaw and Thermokarst in Alaskan
Climate warming is expected to have a large impact on plant species composition and productivity in northern latitude ecosystems. Warming can affect vegetation communities directly through temperature effects on plant growth and indirectly through alteration of soil nutrient availability. In additio...
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ftciteseerx:oai:CiteSeerX.psu:10.1.1.419.9671 2023-05-15T17:56:23+02:00 DOI:10.1007/s10021-007-9024-0 Plant Species Composition and Productivity following Permafrost Thaw and Thermokarst in Alaskan Edward A. G. Schuur Kathryn G. Crummer Jason G. Vogel Michelle C. Mack The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives 2006 application/pdf http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.419.9671 http://www.lter.uaf.edu/pdf/1241_Schuur_Crummer.pdf en eng http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.419.9671 http://www.lter.uaf.edu/pdf/1241_Schuur_Crummer.pdf Metadata may be used without restrictions as long as the oai identifier remains attached to it. http://www.lter.uaf.edu/pdf/1241_Schuur_Crummer.pdf text 2006 ftciteseerx 2016-01-08T03:54:52Z Climate warming is expected to have a large impact on plant species composition and productivity in northern latitude ecosystems. Warming can affect vegetation communities directly through temperature effects on plant growth and indirectly through alteration of soil nutrient availability. In addition, warming can cause permafrost to thaw and thermokarst (ground subsidence) to develop, which can alter the structure of the ecosystem by altering hydrological patterns within a site. These multiple direct and indirect effects of permafrost thawing are difficult to simulate in experimental approaches that often manipulate only one or two factors. Here, we used a natural gradient approach with three sites to represent stages in the process of permafrost thawing and thermokarst. We found that vascular plant biomass shifted from graminoid-dominated tundra in the least disturbed site to shrub-dominated tundra at the oldest, most subsided site, whereas the intermediate site was co-dominated by both plant functional groups. Vascular plant productivity patterns followed the changes in biomass, whereas nonvascular moss productivity was especially important in the oldest, most subsided site. The coefficient of variation for soil moisture was higher in the oldest, most subsided site suggesting that in addition to more wet microsites, there were other microsites that were drier. Across all sites, graminoids preferred the cold, dry microsites whereas the moss and shrubs were associated with the warm, moist microsites. Total nitrogen contained in green plant biomass differed across sites, suggesting that there were increases in soil nitrogen availability where permafrost had thawed. Key words: tundra; vegetation; biomass; net primary productivity; permafrost; Alaska; thermokarst; climate change; nitrogen; soil moisture. Text permafrost Thermokarst Tundra Alaska Unknown |
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description |
Climate warming is expected to have a large impact on plant species composition and productivity in northern latitude ecosystems. Warming can affect vegetation communities directly through temperature effects on plant growth and indirectly through alteration of soil nutrient availability. In addition, warming can cause permafrost to thaw and thermokarst (ground subsidence) to develop, which can alter the structure of the ecosystem by altering hydrological patterns within a site. These multiple direct and indirect effects of permafrost thawing are difficult to simulate in experimental approaches that often manipulate only one or two factors. Here, we used a natural gradient approach with three sites to represent stages in the process of permafrost thawing and thermokarst. We found that vascular plant biomass shifted from graminoid-dominated tundra in the least disturbed site to shrub-dominated tundra at the oldest, most subsided site, whereas the intermediate site was co-dominated by both plant functional groups. Vascular plant productivity patterns followed the changes in biomass, whereas nonvascular moss productivity was especially important in the oldest, most subsided site. The coefficient of variation for soil moisture was higher in the oldest, most subsided site suggesting that in addition to more wet microsites, there were other microsites that were drier. Across all sites, graminoids preferred the cold, dry microsites whereas the moss and shrubs were associated with the warm, moist microsites. Total nitrogen contained in green plant biomass differed across sites, suggesting that there were increases in soil nitrogen availability where permafrost had thawed. Key words: tundra; vegetation; biomass; net primary productivity; permafrost; Alaska; thermokarst; climate change; nitrogen; soil moisture. |
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The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives |
format |
Text |
author |
Edward A. G. Schuur Kathryn G. Crummer Jason G. Vogel Michelle C. Mack |
spellingShingle |
Edward A. G. Schuur Kathryn G. Crummer Jason G. Vogel Michelle C. Mack DOI:10.1007/s10021-007-9024-0 Plant Species Composition and Productivity following Permafrost Thaw and Thermokarst in Alaskan |
author_facet |
Edward A. G. Schuur Kathryn G. Crummer Jason G. Vogel Michelle C. Mack |
author_sort |
Edward A. G. Schuur |
title |
DOI:10.1007/s10021-007-9024-0 Plant Species Composition and Productivity following Permafrost Thaw and Thermokarst in Alaskan |
title_short |
DOI:10.1007/s10021-007-9024-0 Plant Species Composition and Productivity following Permafrost Thaw and Thermokarst in Alaskan |
title_full |
DOI:10.1007/s10021-007-9024-0 Plant Species Composition and Productivity following Permafrost Thaw and Thermokarst in Alaskan |
title_fullStr |
DOI:10.1007/s10021-007-9024-0 Plant Species Composition and Productivity following Permafrost Thaw and Thermokarst in Alaskan |
title_full_unstemmed |
DOI:10.1007/s10021-007-9024-0 Plant Species Composition and Productivity following Permafrost Thaw and Thermokarst in Alaskan |
title_sort |
doi:10.1007/s10021-007-9024-0 plant species composition and productivity following permafrost thaw and thermokarst in alaskan |
publishDate |
2006 |
url |
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.419.9671 http://www.lter.uaf.edu/pdf/1241_Schuur_Crummer.pdf |
genre |
permafrost Thermokarst Tundra Alaska |
genre_facet |
permafrost Thermokarst Tundra Alaska |
op_source |
http://www.lter.uaf.edu/pdf/1241_Schuur_Crummer.pdf |
op_relation |
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.419.9671 http://www.lter.uaf.edu/pdf/1241_Schuur_Crummer.pdf |
op_rights |
Metadata may be used without restrictions as long as the oai identifier remains attached to it. |
_version_ |
1766164530454331392 |