A narrow window of summer temperatures associated with shrub growth in Arctic Alaska
Warming in recent decades has triggered shrub expansion in Arctic and alpine tundra, which is transforming these temperature-limited ecosystems and altering carbon and nutrient cycles, fire regimes, permafrost stability, land-surface climate-feedbacks, and wildlife habitat. Where and when Arctic shr...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:36e3ccd1f12c422e991c696757a03b36 2023-09-05T13:17:08+02:00 A narrow window of summer temperatures associated with shrub growth in Arctic Alaska Laia Andreu-Hayles Benjamin V Gaglioti Logan T Berner Mathieu Levesque Kevin J Anchukaitis Scott J Goetz Rosanne D’Arrigo 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab897f https://doaj.org/article/36e3ccd1f12c422e991c696757a03b36 EN eng IOP Publishing https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab897f https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ab897f 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/36e3ccd1f12c422e991c696757a03b36 Environmental Research Letters, Vol 15, Iss 10, p 105012 (2020) Alaska NDVI remote sensing shrubs tree rings tundra Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab897f 2023-08-13T00:37:05Z Warming in recent decades has triggered shrub expansion in Arctic and alpine tundra, which is transforming these temperature-limited ecosystems and altering carbon and nutrient cycles, fire regimes, permafrost stability, land-surface climate-feedbacks, and wildlife habitat. Where and when Arctic shrub expansion happens in the future will depend in part on how different shrub communities respond to warming air temperatures. Here, we analyze a shrub ring-width network of 18 sites consisting of Salix spp. and Alnus viridis growing across the North Slope of Alaska (68–71 ° N; 164–149 ° W) to assess shrub temperature sensitivity and compare radial growth patterns with satellite NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) data since 1982. Regardless of site conditions and taxa, all shrubs shared a common year-to-year growth variability and had a positive response to daily maximum air temperatures (Tmax) from ca. May 31 (i.e. Tmax ∼6 ° C) to early July (i.e. Tmax ∼12 ° C), two-thirds of which were significant correlations. Thus, the month of June had the highest shrub growth-temperature sensitivity. This period coincides with the seasonal increase in temperature and phenological green up on the North Slope indicated by both field observations and the seasonal cycle of NDVI (a proxy of photosynthetic activity). Nearly all of the sampled shrubs (98%) initiated their growth after 1960, with 74% initiated since 1980. This post-1980 shrub-recruitment pulse coincided with ∼2 °C warmer June temperatures compared to prior periods, as well as with positive trends in shrub basal area increments and peak summer NDVI. Significant correlations between shrub growth and peak summer NDVI indicate these radial growth patterns in shrubs reflect tundra productivity at a broader scale and that tundra vegetation on the North Slope of Alaska underwent a greening trend between 1980 and 2012. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic north slope permafrost Tundra Alaska Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Environmental Research Letters 15 10 105012 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Alaska NDVI remote sensing shrubs tree rings tundra Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
spellingShingle |
Alaska NDVI remote sensing shrubs tree rings tundra Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 Laia Andreu-Hayles Benjamin V Gaglioti Logan T Berner Mathieu Levesque Kevin J Anchukaitis Scott J Goetz Rosanne D’Arrigo A narrow window of summer temperatures associated with shrub growth in Arctic Alaska |
topic_facet |
Alaska NDVI remote sensing shrubs tree rings tundra Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
description |
Warming in recent decades has triggered shrub expansion in Arctic and alpine tundra, which is transforming these temperature-limited ecosystems and altering carbon and nutrient cycles, fire regimes, permafrost stability, land-surface climate-feedbacks, and wildlife habitat. Where and when Arctic shrub expansion happens in the future will depend in part on how different shrub communities respond to warming air temperatures. Here, we analyze a shrub ring-width network of 18 sites consisting of Salix spp. and Alnus viridis growing across the North Slope of Alaska (68–71 ° N; 164–149 ° W) to assess shrub temperature sensitivity and compare radial growth patterns with satellite NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) data since 1982. Regardless of site conditions and taxa, all shrubs shared a common year-to-year growth variability and had a positive response to daily maximum air temperatures (Tmax) from ca. May 31 (i.e. Tmax ∼6 ° C) to early July (i.e. Tmax ∼12 ° C), two-thirds of which were significant correlations. Thus, the month of June had the highest shrub growth-temperature sensitivity. This period coincides with the seasonal increase in temperature and phenological green up on the North Slope indicated by both field observations and the seasonal cycle of NDVI (a proxy of photosynthetic activity). Nearly all of the sampled shrubs (98%) initiated their growth after 1960, with 74% initiated since 1980. This post-1980 shrub-recruitment pulse coincided with ∼2 °C warmer June temperatures compared to prior periods, as well as with positive trends in shrub basal area increments and peak summer NDVI. Significant correlations between shrub growth and peak summer NDVI indicate these radial growth patterns in shrubs reflect tundra productivity at a broader scale and that tundra vegetation on the North Slope of Alaska underwent a greening trend between 1980 and 2012. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Laia Andreu-Hayles Benjamin V Gaglioti Logan T Berner Mathieu Levesque Kevin J Anchukaitis Scott J Goetz Rosanne D’Arrigo |
author_facet |
Laia Andreu-Hayles Benjamin V Gaglioti Logan T Berner Mathieu Levesque Kevin J Anchukaitis Scott J Goetz Rosanne D’Arrigo |
author_sort |
Laia Andreu-Hayles |
title |
A narrow window of summer temperatures associated with shrub growth in Arctic Alaska |
title_short |
A narrow window of summer temperatures associated with shrub growth in Arctic Alaska |
title_full |
A narrow window of summer temperatures associated with shrub growth in Arctic Alaska |
title_fullStr |
A narrow window of summer temperatures associated with shrub growth in Arctic Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
A narrow window of summer temperatures associated with shrub growth in Arctic Alaska |
title_sort |
narrow window of summer temperatures associated with shrub growth in arctic alaska |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab897f https://doaj.org/article/36e3ccd1f12c422e991c696757a03b36 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic north slope permafrost Tundra Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic north slope permafrost Tundra Alaska |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters, Vol 15, Iss 10, p 105012 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab897f https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ab897f 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/36e3ccd1f12c422e991c696757a03b36 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab897f |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
105012 |
_version_ |
1776198429593042944 |