Arctic aquatic graminoid tundra responses to nutrient availability
Unraveling the environmental controls influencing Arctic tundra productivity is paramount for advancing our predictive understanding of the causes and consequences of warming in tundra ecosystems and associated land-atmosphere feedbacks. This study focuses on aquatic emergent tundra plants, which do...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:bgd89899 2023-05-15T14:54:40+02:00 Arctic aquatic graminoid tundra responses to nutrient availability Andresen, Christian G. Lougheed, Vanessa L. 2020-10-23 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2020-351 https://bg.copernicus.org/preprints/bg-2020-351/ eng eng doi:10.5194/bg-2020-351 https://bg.copernicus.org/preprints/bg-2020-351/ eISSN: 1726-4189 Text 2020 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2020-351 2020-10-26T17:22:13Z Unraveling the environmental controls influencing Arctic tundra productivity is paramount for advancing our predictive understanding of the causes and consequences of warming in tundra ecosystems and associated land-atmosphere feedbacks. This study focuses on aquatic emergent tundra plants, which dominate productivity and methane fluxes in the Arctic coastal plain of Alaska. In particular, we assessed how environmental nutrient availability influences production of biomass and greenness in the dominant aquatic tundra species: Carex aquatilis and Arctophila fulva . We sampled a total of 17 sites distributed across the Barrow Peninsula and Atqasuk, Alaska following a nutrient gradient that ranged from sites with thermokarst slumping or urban runoff to sites with relatively low nutrient inputs. Employing a multivariate analysis, we explained the relationship of soil and water nutrients to plant leaf macro- and micro-nutrients. Specifically, we identified soil phosphorus as the main limiting nutrient factor given that it was the principal driver of biomass and Normalize Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in both species. Plot-level spectral NDVI was a good predictor of leaf P content for both species. We found long-term increases in N, P and Ca in C. aquatilis based on historical leaf nutrient data from 1970s of our study area. This study highlights the importance of nutrient pools and mobilization between terrestrial-aquatic systems and their potential influence on productivity, carbon and energy balance. In addition, aquatic plant NDVI spectral responses to nutrients can serve as landscape hot-spot and hot-moment indicator of landscape biogeochemical heterogeneity associated with permafrost degradation, nutrient leaching and availability. Text Arctic Arctophila fulva Barrow Carex aquatilis permafrost Thermokarst Tundra Alaska Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Arctic Barrow Peninsula ENVELOPE(-66.248,-66.248,63.051,63.051) |
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Open Polar |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
Unraveling the environmental controls influencing Arctic tundra productivity is paramount for advancing our predictive understanding of the causes and consequences of warming in tundra ecosystems and associated land-atmosphere feedbacks. This study focuses on aquatic emergent tundra plants, which dominate productivity and methane fluxes in the Arctic coastal plain of Alaska. In particular, we assessed how environmental nutrient availability influences production of biomass and greenness in the dominant aquatic tundra species: Carex aquatilis and Arctophila fulva . We sampled a total of 17 sites distributed across the Barrow Peninsula and Atqasuk, Alaska following a nutrient gradient that ranged from sites with thermokarst slumping or urban runoff to sites with relatively low nutrient inputs. Employing a multivariate analysis, we explained the relationship of soil and water nutrients to plant leaf macro- and micro-nutrients. Specifically, we identified soil phosphorus as the main limiting nutrient factor given that it was the principal driver of biomass and Normalize Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in both species. Plot-level spectral NDVI was a good predictor of leaf P content for both species. We found long-term increases in N, P and Ca in C. aquatilis based on historical leaf nutrient data from 1970s of our study area. This study highlights the importance of nutrient pools and mobilization between terrestrial-aquatic systems and their potential influence on productivity, carbon and energy balance. In addition, aquatic plant NDVI spectral responses to nutrients can serve as landscape hot-spot and hot-moment indicator of landscape biogeochemical heterogeneity associated with permafrost degradation, nutrient leaching and availability. |
format |
Text |
author |
Andresen, Christian G. Lougheed, Vanessa L. |
spellingShingle |
Andresen, Christian G. Lougheed, Vanessa L. Arctic aquatic graminoid tundra responses to nutrient availability |
author_facet |
Andresen, Christian G. Lougheed, Vanessa L. |
author_sort |
Andresen, Christian G. |
title |
Arctic aquatic graminoid tundra responses to nutrient availability |
title_short |
Arctic aquatic graminoid tundra responses to nutrient availability |
title_full |
Arctic aquatic graminoid tundra responses to nutrient availability |
title_fullStr |
Arctic aquatic graminoid tundra responses to nutrient availability |
title_full_unstemmed |
Arctic aquatic graminoid tundra responses to nutrient availability |
title_sort |
arctic aquatic graminoid tundra responses to nutrient availability |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2020-351 https://bg.copernicus.org/preprints/bg-2020-351/ |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-66.248,-66.248,63.051,63.051) |
geographic |
Arctic Barrow Peninsula |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Barrow Peninsula |
genre |
Arctic Arctophila fulva Barrow Carex aquatilis permafrost Thermokarst Tundra Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctophila fulva Barrow Carex aquatilis permafrost Thermokarst Tundra Alaska |
op_source |
eISSN: 1726-4189 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/bg-2020-351 https://bg.copernicus.org/preprints/bg-2020-351/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2020-351 |
_version_ |
1766326435802251264 |