Ecological and evolutionary consequences of experimental and natural warming in the high Arctic tundra ...

• Main Author: Bjorkman, Anne Donahey
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2015
• Subjects: Alexandra Fiord; Arctic; Climate change; Ellesmere Island; Tundra
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0167102; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0167102

Recent increases in global temperatures are having substantial and often unpredictable consequences for the earth’s biota. Species’ responses to environmental change depend on 1) the ability of individuals to adjust in situ through phenotypic plasticity, 2) the rate at which evolutionary adaptation can occur, and 3) the ability of individuals to colonize newly suitable habitat through migration or propagule dispersal. Temperatures in the Arctic are increasing faster than anywhere else, yet our understanding of the consequences of climate change in the Arctic lags behind that of temperate ecosystems. In this thesis, I ask whether plant phenology has advanced in response to 21 years of experimental and ambient warming at Alexandra Fiord, Ellesmere Island, Canada. While experimental warming led to earlier flowering in three out of four species, flowering dates in the control plots were unchanged or delayed despite more than 1 °C of ambient warming over the 21-year period, likely due to concurrent delays in ...