No effect of snow on shrub xylem traits: Insights from a snow-manipulation experiment on Disko Island, Greenland. ...

• Main Authors: Power, Candice C, Normand, Signe, von Arx, Georg, Elberling, Bo, Corcoran, Derek, Krog, Amanda B, Christiansen, Nana Bouvin, Treier, Urs Albert, Westergaard-Nielsen, Andreas, Liu, Yijing, Prendin, Angela L
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Elsevier 2024
• Subjects: 550 Earth sciences & geology; Betula nana; Greenland
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48350/191336; https://boris.unibe.ch/191336/

Widespread shrubification across the Arctic has been generally attributed to increasing air temperatures, but responses vary across species and sites. Wood structures related to the plant hydraulic architecture may respond to local environmental conditions and potentially impact shrub growth, but these relationships remain understudied. Using methods of dendroanatomy, we analysed shrub ring width (RW) and xylem anatomical traits of 80 individuals of Salix glauca L. and Betula nana L. at a snow manipulation experiment in Western Greenland. We assessed how their responses differed between treatments (increased versus ambient snow depth) and soil moisture regimes (wet and dry). Despite an increase in snow depth due to snow fences (28-39 %), neither RW nor anatomical traits in either species showed significant responses to this increase. In contrast, irrespective of the snow treatment, the xylem specific hydraulic conductivity (Ks) and early-wood vessel size (LA95) for the study period were larger in S. glauca ...