Drivers of tall shrub proliferation adjacent to the Dempster Highway, Northwest Territories, Canada
Arctic ecosystems are undergoing rapid changes as a result of climate warming and more frequent disturbances. Disturbances can have particularly large effects on high-latitude ecosystems when ecosystem structure and function is controlled by strong feedbacks between soil conditions, vegetation, and...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/4/045006 https://doaj.org/article/806120640e1e485988f6ff50afe3076c |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:806120640e1e485988f6ff50afe3076c 2023-09-05T13:17:16+02:00 Drivers of tall shrub proliferation adjacent to the Dempster Highway, Northwest Territories, Canada Emily A Cameron Trevor C Lantz 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/4/045006 https://doaj.org/article/806120640e1e485988f6ff50afe3076c EN eng IOP Publishing https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/4/045006 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/11/4/045006 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/806120640e1e485988f6ff50afe3076c Environmental Research Letters, Vol 11, Iss 4, p 045006 (2016) shrub tundra global change disturbance Low Arctic green alder biomass Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 article 2016 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/4/045006 2023-08-13T00:37:47Z Arctic ecosystems are undergoing rapid changes as a result of climate warming and more frequent disturbances. Disturbances can have particularly large effects on high-latitude ecosystems when ecosystem structure and function is controlled by strong feedbacks between soil conditions, vegetation, and ground thermal regime. In this study we investigated the impact of road construction and maintenance on vegetation structure and biomass along the Dempster Highway where it crosses the Peel Plateau in the Northwest Territories. To explore drivers of tall shrub proliferation and to quantify shrub proliferation in this region of continuous permafrost, greyscale air photos (1975) and Quickbird satellite imagery (2008) were used to map landcover change within two 0.6 km ^2 belts next to the road and two 0.6 km ^2 belts 500 m away from the road. Maps showing areas where: 1) tall shrubs expanded, and 2) dwarf shrub tundra resisted invasion were then used to select field sites where a suite of biophysical variables were measured. Rapid tall shrub proliferation and greater biomass adjacent to the road indicate that disturbance can facilitate vegetation change in tundra environments. Our field data also suggests that increased shrub proliferation adjacent to the road was caused by greater soil moisture. Tall shrub proliferation adjacent to the road occurred at lower elevation sites characterized by wetter soils with thicker organic layers. Areas that resisted tall shrub encroachment were located at higher elevations and had drier soils with thin organic layers. Our observations also support previous work illustrating that tall shrub expansion next to the highway promotes strong positive feedbacks to ongoing shrub growth and proliferation. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Northwest Territories permafrost Tundra Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Canada Northwest Territories Environmental Research Letters 11 4 045006 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
shrub tundra global change disturbance Low Arctic green alder biomass Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
spellingShingle |
shrub tundra global change disturbance Low Arctic green alder biomass Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 Emily A Cameron Trevor C Lantz Drivers of tall shrub proliferation adjacent to the Dempster Highway, Northwest Territories, Canada |
topic_facet |
shrub tundra global change disturbance Low Arctic green alder biomass Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
description |
Arctic ecosystems are undergoing rapid changes as a result of climate warming and more frequent disturbances. Disturbances can have particularly large effects on high-latitude ecosystems when ecosystem structure and function is controlled by strong feedbacks between soil conditions, vegetation, and ground thermal regime. In this study we investigated the impact of road construction and maintenance on vegetation structure and biomass along the Dempster Highway where it crosses the Peel Plateau in the Northwest Territories. To explore drivers of tall shrub proliferation and to quantify shrub proliferation in this region of continuous permafrost, greyscale air photos (1975) and Quickbird satellite imagery (2008) were used to map landcover change within two 0.6 km ^2 belts next to the road and two 0.6 km ^2 belts 500 m away from the road. Maps showing areas where: 1) tall shrubs expanded, and 2) dwarf shrub tundra resisted invasion were then used to select field sites where a suite of biophysical variables were measured. Rapid tall shrub proliferation and greater biomass adjacent to the road indicate that disturbance can facilitate vegetation change in tundra environments. Our field data also suggests that increased shrub proliferation adjacent to the road was caused by greater soil moisture. Tall shrub proliferation adjacent to the road occurred at lower elevation sites characterized by wetter soils with thicker organic layers. Areas that resisted tall shrub encroachment were located at higher elevations and had drier soils with thin organic layers. Our observations also support previous work illustrating that tall shrub expansion next to the highway promotes strong positive feedbacks to ongoing shrub growth and proliferation. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Emily A Cameron Trevor C Lantz |
author_facet |
Emily A Cameron Trevor C Lantz |
author_sort |
Emily A Cameron |
title |
Drivers of tall shrub proliferation adjacent to the Dempster Highway, Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_short |
Drivers of tall shrub proliferation adjacent to the Dempster Highway, Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_full |
Drivers of tall shrub proliferation adjacent to the Dempster Highway, Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_fullStr |
Drivers of tall shrub proliferation adjacent to the Dempster Highway, Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Drivers of tall shrub proliferation adjacent to the Dempster Highway, Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_sort |
drivers of tall shrub proliferation adjacent to the dempster highway, northwest territories, canada |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/4/045006 https://doaj.org/article/806120640e1e485988f6ff50afe3076c |
geographic |
Arctic Canada Northwest Territories |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada Northwest Territories |
genre |
Arctic Northwest Territories permafrost Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Northwest Territories permafrost Tundra |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters, Vol 11, Iss 4, p 045006 (2016) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/4/045006 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/11/4/045006 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/806120640e1e485988f6ff50afe3076c |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/4/045006 |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
045006 |
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1776198501842026496 |