Data from: Experimental icing affects growth, mortality, and flowering in a high Arctic dwarf shrub ...

• Main Authors: Milner, Jos M., Varpe, Øystein, Van Der Wal, René, Hansen, Brage Bremset
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2016
• Subjects: Cassiope tetragona; Resource allocation; Anoxia tolerance; winter warming; extreme weather event; Arctic; Svalbard; Arctic bell-heather; Climate change; Tundra
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.512s7; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.512s7

Effects of climate change are predicted to be greatest at high latitudes, with more pronounced warming in winter than summer. Extreme mid-winter warm spells and heavy rain-on-snow events are already increasing in frequency in the Arctic, with implications for snow-pack and ground-ice formation. These may in turn affect key components of Arctic ecosystems. However, the fitness consequences of extreme winter weather events for tundra plants are not well understood, especially in the high Arctic. We simulated an extreme mid-winter rain-on-snow event at a field site in high Arctic Svalbard (78°N) by experimentally encasing tundra vegetation in ice. After the subsequent growing season, we measured the effects of icing on growth and fitness indices in the common tundra plant, Arctic bell-heather (Cassiope tetragona). The suitability of this species for retrospective growth analysis enabled us to compare shoot growth in pre and postmanipulation years in icing treatment and control plants, as well as shoot survival ... : exp_icing_datRaw data from Cassiope icing experiment in high Arctic Svalbard, 2014. Effects of simulated extreme mid-winter rain-on-snow icing event (treatment) on Cassiope shoot growth, survival and flowering, as compared with plants in control plots.AGI_IcingPre- and post-treatment annual growth increments of Cassiope shoots sampled from experimental treatment and control plots. ...