Soil characteristics and Collembola and Acari abundance in control and warming plots at Abisco Research Station ...

Extreme weather events can have negative impacts on species survival and community structure when surpassing lethal thresholds. Extreme winter warming events in the Arctic rapidly melt snow and expose ecosystems to unseasonably warm air (2-10 °C for 2-14 days), but returning to cold winter climate e...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bokhorst, Stef, Phoenix, Gareth K, Bjerke, Jarle W, Callaghan, Terry V, Huyer-Brugman, F, Berg, Matty P
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: PANGAEA 2012
Subjects:
IPY
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.807856
https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.807856
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Summary:Extreme weather events can have negative impacts on species survival and community structure when surpassing lethal thresholds. Extreme winter warming events in the Arctic rapidly melt snow and expose ecosystems to unseasonably warm air (2-10 °C for 2-14 days), but returning to cold winter climate exposes the ecosystem to lower temperatures by the loss of insulating snow. Soil animals, which play an integral part in soil processes, may be very susceptible to such events depending on the intensity of soil warming and low temperatures following these events. We simulated week-long extreme winter warming events - using infrared heating lamps, alone or with soil warming cables - for two consecutive years in a sub-Arctic dwarf shrub heathland. Minimum temperatures were lower and freeze-thaw cycles were 2-11 times more frequent in treatment plots compared with control plots. Following the second event, Acari populations decreased by 39%; primarily driven by declines of Prostigmata (69%) and the Mesostigmatic ... : Data extracted in the frame of a joint ICSTI/PANGAEA IPY effort, see http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.150150 ...