Rapid vegetation succession and coupled permafrost dynamics in arctic thaw ponds in the Siberian lowland tundra

Thermokarst features, such as thaw ponds, are hotspots for methane emissions in warming lowland tundra. Presently we lack quantitative knowledge on the formation rates of formation of thaw ponds and subsequent vegetation succession, necessary to determine their net contribution to greenhouse gas emi...

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Main Author: Magnusson, MSc R.I. (Plant Ecology & Nature Conservation - Wageningen University & Research), Researcher
Format: Dataset
Language:English
Published: 2019
Subjects:
Ice
Online Access:http://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:nl:ui:13-un-zneg
https://easy.dans.knaw.nl/ui/datasets/id/easy-dataset:156084
id ftdans:oai:easy.dans.knaw.nl:easy-dataset:156084
record_format openpolar
spelling ftdans:oai:easy.dans.knaw.nl:easy-dataset:156084 2024-01-07T09:41:25+01:00 Rapid vegetation succession and coupled permafrost dynamics in arctic thaw ponds in the Siberian lowland tundra Magnusson, MSc R.I. (Plant Ecology & Nature Conservation - Wageningen University & Research), Researcher Kytalyk Nature Reserve 2010-2019 east=147.29; north=70.49; units=degrees; 2019 .r .csv .mid .mif http://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:nl:ui:13-un-zneg https://easy.dans.knaw.nl/ui/datasets/id/easy-dataset:156084 en eng http://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:nl:ui:13-un-zneg doi:10.17026/dans-29c-tdq5 https://easy.dans.knaw.nl/ui/datasets/id/easy-dataset:156084 OPEN_ACCESS http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 Plant Ecology & Nature Conservation - Wageningen University & Research Field measurements and dendrochronological analysis of Betula nana shrubs, digitized polygon shapefiles based on very high resolution satellite imagery (GeoEye1, August 2010; WorldView2, July 2015; WorldView2, July 2017; WorldView2; July 2018). Nature and landscape thermokarst tundra arctic siberia thaw pond vegetation succession Dataset 2019 ftdans https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-29c-tdq5 2023-12-13T23:15:27Z Thermokarst features, such as thaw ponds, are hotspots for methane emissions in warming lowland tundra. Presently we lack quantitative knowledge on the formation rates of formation of thaw ponds and subsequent vegetation succession, necessary to determine their net contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. This study set out to identify development trajectories and formation rates approximate rates of of small-scale (< 1 km2) arctic thaw ponds in north-eastern Siberia. We selected 40 ponds of different age classes based on a time-series of satellite images and measured vegetation composition, microtopography, water table and active layer thicknessthaw depth in the field and measured age of recruiting colonizing shrubs in thaw ponds using dendrochronology. We found that young thaw ponds are characterised by dead shrubs, while older ponds show rapid paludification through colonization bycontain mostly sedges and Sphagnum moss. While dead shrubs and open water are associated with permafrost degradation (lower surface elevation, high active layer thicknesslarger thaw depth), sites with sedge and in particular Sphagnum display indications of permafrost recovery. Recruitment of Betula nana on Sphagnum carpets in ponds indicates a potential recovery towards shrub dominated vegetation, although it remains unclear if and on what timescale this occurs. Our results suggest that thaw ponds display potentially cyclic vegetation succession associated with permafrost degradation and recovery. Thaw pond formation and initial colonization by sedges can occur on subdecadal timescales, which is relatively fast compared to rates known for ice wedge degradation (subdecadal to century-scale). The rates of formation and recovery of small-scale thaw ponds have implications for the greening/browning dynamics and carbon balance of this ecosystem. Dataset Arctic Betula nana Ice permafrost Thermokarst Tundra wedge* Siberia Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS): EASY (KNAW - Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen) Arctic Browning ENVELOPE(164.050,164.050,-74.617,-74.617)
institution Open Polar
collection Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS): EASY (KNAW - Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen)
op_collection_id ftdans
language English
topic Nature and landscape
thermokarst
tundra
arctic
siberia
thaw pond
vegetation succession
spellingShingle Nature and landscape
thermokarst
tundra
arctic
siberia
thaw pond
vegetation succession
Magnusson, MSc R.I. (Plant Ecology & Nature Conservation - Wageningen University & Research), Researcher
Rapid vegetation succession and coupled permafrost dynamics in arctic thaw ponds in the Siberian lowland tundra
topic_facet Nature and landscape
thermokarst
tundra
arctic
siberia
thaw pond
vegetation succession
description Thermokarst features, such as thaw ponds, are hotspots for methane emissions in warming lowland tundra. Presently we lack quantitative knowledge on the formation rates of formation of thaw ponds and subsequent vegetation succession, necessary to determine their net contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. This study set out to identify development trajectories and formation rates approximate rates of of small-scale (< 1 km2) arctic thaw ponds in north-eastern Siberia. We selected 40 ponds of different age classes based on a time-series of satellite images and measured vegetation composition, microtopography, water table and active layer thicknessthaw depth in the field and measured age of recruiting colonizing shrubs in thaw ponds using dendrochronology. We found that young thaw ponds are characterised by dead shrubs, while older ponds show rapid paludification through colonization bycontain mostly sedges and Sphagnum moss. While dead shrubs and open water are associated with permafrost degradation (lower surface elevation, high active layer thicknesslarger thaw depth), sites with sedge and in particular Sphagnum display indications of permafrost recovery. Recruitment of Betula nana on Sphagnum carpets in ponds indicates a potential recovery towards shrub dominated vegetation, although it remains unclear if and on what timescale this occurs. Our results suggest that thaw ponds display potentially cyclic vegetation succession associated with permafrost degradation and recovery. Thaw pond formation and initial colonization by sedges can occur on subdecadal timescales, which is relatively fast compared to rates known for ice wedge degradation (subdecadal to century-scale). The rates of formation and recovery of small-scale thaw ponds have implications for the greening/browning dynamics and carbon balance of this ecosystem.
format Dataset
author Magnusson, MSc R.I. (Plant Ecology & Nature Conservation - Wageningen University & Research), Researcher
author_facet Magnusson, MSc R.I. (Plant Ecology & Nature Conservation - Wageningen University & Research), Researcher
author_sort Magnusson, MSc R.I. (Plant Ecology & Nature Conservation - Wageningen University & Research), Researcher
title Rapid vegetation succession and coupled permafrost dynamics in arctic thaw ponds in the Siberian lowland tundra
title_short Rapid vegetation succession and coupled permafrost dynamics in arctic thaw ponds in the Siberian lowland tundra
title_full Rapid vegetation succession and coupled permafrost dynamics in arctic thaw ponds in the Siberian lowland tundra
title_fullStr Rapid vegetation succession and coupled permafrost dynamics in arctic thaw ponds in the Siberian lowland tundra
title_full_unstemmed Rapid vegetation succession and coupled permafrost dynamics in arctic thaw ponds in the Siberian lowland tundra
title_sort rapid vegetation succession and coupled permafrost dynamics in arctic thaw ponds in the siberian lowland tundra
publishDate 2019
url http://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:nl:ui:13-un-zneg
https://easy.dans.knaw.nl/ui/datasets/id/easy-dataset:156084
op_coverage Kytalyk Nature Reserve
2010-2019
east=147.29; north=70.49; units=degrees;
long_lat ENVELOPE(164.050,164.050,-74.617,-74.617)
geographic Arctic
Browning
geographic_facet Arctic
Browning
genre Arctic
Betula nana
Ice
permafrost
Thermokarst
Tundra
wedge*
Siberia
genre_facet Arctic
Betula nana
Ice
permafrost
Thermokarst
Tundra
wedge*
Siberia
op_source Field measurements and dendrochronological analysis of Betula nana shrubs, digitized polygon shapefiles based on very high resolution satellite imagery (GeoEye1, August 2010; WorldView2, July 2015; WorldView2, July 2017; WorldView2; July 2018).
op_relation http://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:nl:ui:13-un-zneg
doi:10.17026/dans-29c-tdq5
https://easy.dans.knaw.nl/ui/datasets/id/easy-dataset:156084
op_rights OPEN_ACCESS
http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0
Plant Ecology & Nature Conservation - Wageningen University & Research
op_doi https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-29c-tdq5
_version_ 1787422217126019072