(Table 1) Effects of experimental warming on plant cover and diversity indices in an evergreen shrub at Alexandra Fiord, supplement to: Hudson, James M G; Henry, Gregory HR (2010): High Arctic plant community resists 15 years of experimental warming. Journal of Ecology, 98(5), 1035-1041

1. Identifying plant communities that are resistant to climate change will be critical for developing accurate, wide-scale vegetation change predictions. Most northern plant communities, especially tundra, have shown strong responses to experimental and observed warming.2. Experimental warming is a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hudson, James M G, Henry, Gregory HR
Format: Dataset
Language:English
Published: PANGAEA - Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science 2010
Subjects:
DATE/TIME
Treatment
Dissimilarity index
Dissimilarity, standard deviation
Shrubs
Standard deviation
Bryophyta
Lichen
Grass and sedges
Forbs
Shannon Diversity Index
Simpson's index
Species richness
Evenness of species
Height
Sampling by hand
Open-top chamber OTC warming experiment, in situ
International Polar Year 2007-2008 IPY
Arctic
Nunavut
Canada
Hudson
Alexandra Fiord
Climate change
International Polar Year
IPY
Tundra
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.811359
https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.811359
Description
Summary:1. Identifying plant communities that are resistant to climate change will be critical for developing accurate, wide-scale vegetation change predictions. Most northern plant communities, especially tundra, have shown strong responses to experimental and observed warming.2. Experimental warming is a key tool for understanding vegetation responses to climate change. We used open-top chambers to passively warm an evergreen-shrub heath by 1.0-1.3 °C for 15 years at Alexandra Fiord, Nunavut, Canada (79 °N). In 1996, 2000 and 2007, we measured height, plant composition and abundance with a point-intercept method.3. Experimental warming did not strongly affect vascular plant cover, canopy height or species diversity, but it did increase bryophyte cover by 6.3% and decrease lichen cover by 3.5%. Temporal changes in plant cover were more frequent and of greater magnitude than changes due to experimental warming.4. Synthesis. This evergreen-shrub heath continues to exhibit community-level resistance to long-term experimental warming, in contrast to most Arctic plant communities. Our findings support the view that only substantial climatic changes will alter unproductive ecosystems. : Data extracted in the frame of a joint ICSTI/PANGAEA IPY effort, see http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.150150

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