Decreased soil moisture due to warming drives phylogenetic diversity and community transitions in the tundra
Global warming leads to drastic changes in the diversity and structure of Arctic plant communities. Studies of functional diversity within the Arctic tundra biome have improved our understanding of plant responses to warming. However, these studies still show substantial unexplained variation in div...
Published in: | Environmental Research Letters |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
IOP Publishing
2021
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abfe8a https://doaj.org/article/77cd879df3814dd2b628a584d4d2a2b8 |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:77cd879df3814dd2b628a584d4d2a2b8 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:77cd879df3814dd2b628a584d4d2a2b8 2023-09-05T13:16:40+02:00 Decreased soil moisture due to warming drives phylogenetic diversity and community transitions in the tundra Ruud Scharn Chelsea J Little Christine D Bacon Juha M Alatalo Alexandre Antonelli Mats P Björkman Ulf Molau R Henrik Nilsson Robert G Björk 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abfe8a https://doaj.org/article/77cd879df3814dd2b628a584d4d2a2b8 EN eng IOP Publishing https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abfe8a https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/abfe8a 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/77cd879df3814dd2b628a584d4d2a2b8 Environmental Research Letters, Vol 16, Iss 6, p 064031 (2021) Arctic tundra long-term warming soil moisture vegetation change shrubification phylogenetic diversity Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abfe8a 2023-08-13T00:37:11Z Global warming leads to drastic changes in the diversity and structure of Arctic plant communities. Studies of functional diversity within the Arctic tundra biome have improved our understanding of plant responses to warming. However, these studies still show substantial unexplained variation in diversity responses. Complementary to functional diversity, phylogenetic diversity has been useful in climate change studies, but has so far been understudied in the Arctic. Here, we use a 25 year warming experiment to disentangle community responses in Arctic plant phylogenetic β diversity across a soil moisture gradient. We found that responses varied over the soil moisture gradient, where meadow communities with intermediate to high soil moisture had a higher magnitude of response. Warming had a negative effect on soil moisture levels in all meadow communities, however meadows with intermediate moisture levels were more sensitive. In these communities, soil moisture loss was associated with earlier snowmelt, resulting in community turnover towards a more heath-like community. This process of ‘heathification’ in the intermediate moisture meadows was driven by the expansion of ericoid and Betula shrubs. In contrast, under a more consistent water supply Salix shrub abundance increased in wet meadows. Due to its lower stature, palatability and decomposability, the increase in heath relative to meadow vegetation can have several large scale effects on the local food web as well as climate. Our study highlights the importance of the hydrological cycle as a driver of vegetation turnover in response to Arctic climate change. The observed patterns in phylogenetic β diversity were often driven by contrasting responses of species of the same functional growth form, and could thus provide important complementary information. Thus, phylogenetic diversity is an important tool in disentangling tundra response to environmental change. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change Global warming Tundra Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Environmental Research Letters 16 6 064031 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic tundra long-term warming soil moisture vegetation change shrubification phylogenetic diversity Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
spellingShingle |
Arctic tundra long-term warming soil moisture vegetation change shrubification phylogenetic diversity Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 Ruud Scharn Chelsea J Little Christine D Bacon Juha M Alatalo Alexandre Antonelli Mats P Björkman Ulf Molau R Henrik Nilsson Robert G Björk Decreased soil moisture due to warming drives phylogenetic diversity and community transitions in the tundra |
topic_facet |
Arctic tundra long-term warming soil moisture vegetation change shrubification phylogenetic diversity Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
description |
Global warming leads to drastic changes in the diversity and structure of Arctic plant communities. Studies of functional diversity within the Arctic tundra biome have improved our understanding of plant responses to warming. However, these studies still show substantial unexplained variation in diversity responses. Complementary to functional diversity, phylogenetic diversity has been useful in climate change studies, but has so far been understudied in the Arctic. Here, we use a 25 year warming experiment to disentangle community responses in Arctic plant phylogenetic β diversity across a soil moisture gradient. We found that responses varied over the soil moisture gradient, where meadow communities with intermediate to high soil moisture had a higher magnitude of response. Warming had a negative effect on soil moisture levels in all meadow communities, however meadows with intermediate moisture levels were more sensitive. In these communities, soil moisture loss was associated with earlier snowmelt, resulting in community turnover towards a more heath-like community. This process of ‘heathification’ in the intermediate moisture meadows was driven by the expansion of ericoid and Betula shrubs. In contrast, under a more consistent water supply Salix shrub abundance increased in wet meadows. Due to its lower stature, palatability and decomposability, the increase in heath relative to meadow vegetation can have several large scale effects on the local food web as well as climate. Our study highlights the importance of the hydrological cycle as a driver of vegetation turnover in response to Arctic climate change. The observed patterns in phylogenetic β diversity were often driven by contrasting responses of species of the same functional growth form, and could thus provide important complementary information. Thus, phylogenetic diversity is an important tool in disentangling tundra response to environmental change. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ruud Scharn Chelsea J Little Christine D Bacon Juha M Alatalo Alexandre Antonelli Mats P Björkman Ulf Molau R Henrik Nilsson Robert G Björk |
author_facet |
Ruud Scharn Chelsea J Little Christine D Bacon Juha M Alatalo Alexandre Antonelli Mats P Björkman Ulf Molau R Henrik Nilsson Robert G Björk |
author_sort |
Ruud Scharn |
title |
Decreased soil moisture due to warming drives phylogenetic diversity and community transitions in the tundra |
title_short |
Decreased soil moisture due to warming drives phylogenetic diversity and community transitions in the tundra |
title_full |
Decreased soil moisture due to warming drives phylogenetic diversity and community transitions in the tundra |
title_fullStr |
Decreased soil moisture due to warming drives phylogenetic diversity and community transitions in the tundra |
title_full_unstemmed |
Decreased soil moisture due to warming drives phylogenetic diversity and community transitions in the tundra |
title_sort |
decreased soil moisture due to warming drives phylogenetic diversity and community transitions in the tundra |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abfe8a https://doaj.org/article/77cd879df3814dd2b628a584d4d2a2b8 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Climate change Global warming Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change Global warming Tundra |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters, Vol 16, Iss 6, p 064031 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abfe8a https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/abfe8a 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/77cd879df3814dd2b628a584d4d2a2b8 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abfe8a |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
064031 |
_version_ |
1776198166342795264 |