Arctic aquatic graminoid tundra responses to nutrient availability
Unraveling the environmental controls influencing Arctic tundra productivity is paramount for advancing our predictive understanding of the causes and consequences of warming in tundra ecosystems and associated land–atmosphere feedbacks. This study focuses on aquatic emergent tundra plants, which do...
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Copernicus Publications
2021
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:afdc40b48fba40f5afdb0374f6c0c1d7 2023-05-15T14:55:36+02:00 Arctic aquatic graminoid tundra responses to nutrient availability C. G. Andresen V. L. Lougheed 2021-04-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2649-2021 https://doaj.org/article/afdc40b48fba40f5afdb0374f6c0c1d7 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/18/2649/2021/bg-18-2649-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4170 https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4189 doi:10.5194/bg-18-2649-2021 1726-4170 1726-4189 https://doaj.org/article/afdc40b48fba40f5afdb0374f6c0c1d7 Biogeosciences, Vol 18, Pp 2649-2662 (2021) Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2649-2021 2022-12-31T07:01:37Z Unraveling the environmental controls influencing Arctic tundra productivity is paramount for advancing our predictive understanding of the causes and consequences of warming in tundra ecosystems and associated land–atmosphere feedbacks. This study focuses on aquatic emergent tundra plants, which dominate productivity and methane fluxes in the Arctic coastal plain of Alaska. In particular, we assessed how environmental nutrient availability influences production of biomass and greenness in the dominant aquatic tundra species: Arctophila fulva and Carex aquatilis . We sampled a total of 17 sites distributed across the Barrow Peninsula and Atqasuk, Alaska, following a nutrient gradient that ranged from sites with thermokarst slumping or urban runoff to sites with relatively low nutrient inputs. Employing a multivariate analysis, we explained the relationship of soil and water nutrients to plant leaf macro- and micro-nutrients. Specifically, we identified soil phosphorus as the main limiting nutrient factor given that it was the principal driver of aboveground biomass ( R 2 =0.34 , p =0.002 ) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) ( R 2 =0.47 , p =0.002 ) in both species. Plot-level spectral NDVI was a good predictor of leaf P content for both species. We found long-term increases in N, P and Ca in C. aquatilis based on historical leaf nutrient data from the 1970s of our study area. This study highlights the importance of nutrient pools and mobilization between terrestrial–aquatic systems and their potential influence on productivity and land–atmosphere carbon balance. In addition, aquatic plant NDVI spectral responses to nutrients can serve as landscape hot-spot and hot-moment indicators of landscape biogeochemical heterogeneity associated with permafrost degradation, nutrient leaching and availability. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctophila fulva Barrow Carex aquatilis permafrost Thermokarst Tundra Alaska Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Barrow Peninsula ENVELOPE(-66.248,-66.248,63.051,63.051) Biogeosciences 18 8 2649 2662 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 C. G. Andresen V. L. Lougheed Arctic aquatic graminoid tundra responses to nutrient availability |
topic_facet |
Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
Unraveling the environmental controls influencing Arctic tundra productivity is paramount for advancing our predictive understanding of the causes and consequences of warming in tundra ecosystems and associated land–atmosphere feedbacks. This study focuses on aquatic emergent tundra plants, which dominate productivity and methane fluxes in the Arctic coastal plain of Alaska. In particular, we assessed how environmental nutrient availability influences production of biomass and greenness in the dominant aquatic tundra species: Arctophila fulva and Carex aquatilis . We sampled a total of 17 sites distributed across the Barrow Peninsula and Atqasuk, Alaska, following a nutrient gradient that ranged from sites with thermokarst slumping or urban runoff to sites with relatively low nutrient inputs. Employing a multivariate analysis, we explained the relationship of soil and water nutrients to plant leaf macro- and micro-nutrients. Specifically, we identified soil phosphorus as the main limiting nutrient factor given that it was the principal driver of aboveground biomass ( R 2 =0.34 , p =0.002 ) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) ( R 2 =0.47 , p =0.002 ) in both species. Plot-level spectral NDVI was a good predictor of leaf P content for both species. We found long-term increases in N, P and Ca in C. aquatilis based on historical leaf nutrient data from the 1970s of our study area. This study highlights the importance of nutrient pools and mobilization between terrestrial–aquatic systems and their potential influence on productivity and land–atmosphere carbon balance. In addition, aquatic plant NDVI spectral responses to nutrients can serve as landscape hot-spot and hot-moment indicators of landscape biogeochemical heterogeneity associated with permafrost degradation, nutrient leaching and availability. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
C. G. Andresen V. L. Lougheed |
author_facet |
C. G. Andresen V. L. Lougheed |
author_sort |
C. G. Andresen |
title |
Arctic aquatic graminoid tundra responses to nutrient availability |
title_short |
Arctic aquatic graminoid tundra responses to nutrient availability |
title_full |
Arctic aquatic graminoid tundra responses to nutrient availability |
title_fullStr |
Arctic aquatic graminoid tundra responses to nutrient availability |
title_full_unstemmed |
Arctic aquatic graminoid tundra responses to nutrient availability |
title_sort |
arctic aquatic graminoid tundra responses to nutrient availability |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2649-2021 https://doaj.org/article/afdc40b48fba40f5afdb0374f6c0c1d7 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-66.248,-66.248,63.051,63.051) |
geographic |
Arctic Barrow Peninsula |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Barrow Peninsula |
genre |
Arctic Arctophila fulva Barrow Carex aquatilis permafrost Thermokarst Tundra Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctophila fulva Barrow Carex aquatilis permafrost Thermokarst Tundra Alaska |
op_source |
Biogeosciences, Vol 18, Pp 2649-2662 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/18/2649/2021/bg-18-2649-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4170 https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4189 doi:10.5194/bg-18-2649-2021 1726-4170 1726-4189 https://doaj.org/article/afdc40b48fba40f5afdb0374f6c0c1d7 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2649-2021 |
container_title |
Biogeosciences |
container_volume |
18 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
2649 |
op_container_end_page |
2662 |
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1766327628343541760 |