Wetland biomass responses to experimental flooding and warming, Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (Western Alaska, USA), 2022-2023 ...

• Main Authors: Petit Bon, Matteo, Beard, Karen H., Leffler, A. Joshua, Kelsey, Katharine C.
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: NSF Arctic Data Center 2024
• Subjects: Aboveground biomass; Belowground biomass; Alaska; Arctic tundra; Plant functional group PFG; Roots; Tidal floods; Yukon-Kuskokwim Y-K Delta; Point intercept method PIM; Graminoids; Shrubs; Forbs; Arctic; The ''Y''; Yukon; Kuskokwim; Tundra
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.18739/a2k93180p; https://arcticdata.io/catalog/view/doi:10.18739/A2K93180P

This dataset was used to answer the question: to what extent do flooding and warming alter plant-community structure in the high-latitude coastal wetlands of the Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) Delta (Western Alaska, USA)? Over two years, we simulated periodic summer tidal flood events at two severity levels and passively increased summer temperatures in a full-factorial field experiment, and measured alterations in aboveground plant functional group (PFG) biomass and composition. We simulated low-severity and high-severity flooding to represent near-future flooding regimes for the Y-K Delta, projected respectively in the next ~5 and ~10 years. The experiment was established in a wet sedge-shrub meadow, an ecotype covering greater than 10% of the vegetated area of the central coast of the Y-K Delta. We characterized aboveground plant-community structure using the point intercept frequency (PIM) methodology. We clumped vascular plant species into five broad PFGs: graminoids, deciduous and evergreen shrubs, forbs, and ...