Interspecific boreal shrub growth response to climate, fertilization and herbivory. ...
Substantial evidence indicates a circumpolar ‘greening’ trend largely attributed to an increase in tall shrub abundance. Shrub expansion creates positive feedbacks to the global climate, involving the release of stored carbon due to shifts in permafrost stability and nutrient cycling. Understanding...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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University of British Columbia
2016
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| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0223166 https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0223166 |
| Summary: | Substantial evidence indicates a circumpolar ‘greening’ trend largely attributed to an increase in tall shrub abundance. Shrub expansion creates positive feedbacks to the global climate, involving the release of stored carbon due to shifts in permafrost stability and nutrient cycling. Understanding drivers of shrub growth is therefore essential to predicting how northern ecosystems will respond to climate change. After a decade of research into circumpolar shrub expansion, there remain large gaps in our understanding of shrub expansion below treeline in the boreal forest biome. In the Kluane region of southwest Yukon, there has been an increase in the aboveground standing biomass of boreal shrubs by one and a half to two times over the past 27 years. I used dendroecological methods to assess the relative impacts of climate, fertilization, and herbivory on three boreal understory shrub species (Betula glandulosa, Salix glauca, and Shepherdia canadensis) and found interspecific variation in growth response. I ... |
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