Variation in albedo and other vegetation characteristics in non-forested northern ecosystems: the role of lichens and mosses
Vegetation has a profound impact on climate through complex interactions and feedback loops, where especially regulation of albedo, the ratio of reflected to incoming solar radiation, is important at high latitudes. How vegetation albedo varies along environmental gradients in tundra ecosystems is s...
Published in: | Environmental Research Letters |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
IOP Publishing
2023
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ace06d https://doaj.org/article/f1f73555c030443eb5b54a6ab560f6b4 |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:f1f73555c030443eb5b54a6ab560f6b4 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:f1f73555c030443eb5b54a6ab560f6b4 2023-09-05T13:11:23+02:00 Variation in albedo and other vegetation characteristics in non-forested northern ecosystems: the role of lichens and mosses Eirik A Finne Jarle W Bjerke Rasmus Erlandsson Hans Tømmervik Frode Stordal Lena M Tallaksen 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ace06d https://doaj.org/article/f1f73555c030443eb5b54a6ab560f6b4 EN eng IOP Publishing https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ace06d https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ace06d 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/f1f73555c030443eb5b54a6ab560f6b4 Environmental Research Letters, Vol 18, Iss 7, p 074038 (2023) albedo Rangifer tarandus tundra herbivore climate vegetation interactions Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ace06d 2023-08-13T00:36:51Z Vegetation has a profound impact on climate through complex interactions and feedback loops, where especially regulation of albedo, the ratio of reflected to incoming solar radiation, is important at high latitudes. How vegetation albedo varies along environmental gradients in tundra ecosystems is still not well understood, particularly for ecosystems dominated by nonvascular vegetation. We studied broadband shortwave albedo of open boreal, arctic, and alpine ecosystems over a 2000 km long latitudinal gradient (60° N–79° N) and contrasted this against species composition, vegetation greenness (normalised difference vegetation index—NDVI), momentary ecosystem CO _2 fluxes and reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus ) grazing pressure. High cover of pale terricolous fruticose lichens was the single most important predictor for vegetation albedo, which had a maximum value of 0.389 under clear sky conditions and solar zenith angle 60°. To our knowledge, this is the highest broadband albedo recorded for a vegetated surface. NDVI was negatively correlated to lichen biomass ( r _s = −0.56), and albedo ( r _s = −0.19). Gross primary production and ecosystem respiration varied considerably less between plots and vegetation types than albedo. While it is well-known that Rangifer affects climate-relevant aboveground biomass, we here show that its regulation of surface albedo in northern ecosystems may also be of high importance for land-atmosphere interactions. The data presented here thus advocate for an increased understanding of the important and complex role of herbivores and lichen cover in climate-vegetation interactions. Article in Journal/Newspaper albedo Arctic Rangifer tarandus Tundra Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Environmental Research Letters 18 7 074038 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
albedo Rangifer tarandus tundra herbivore climate vegetation interactions Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
spellingShingle |
albedo Rangifer tarandus tundra herbivore climate vegetation interactions Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 Eirik A Finne Jarle W Bjerke Rasmus Erlandsson Hans Tømmervik Frode Stordal Lena M Tallaksen Variation in albedo and other vegetation characteristics in non-forested northern ecosystems: the role of lichens and mosses |
topic_facet |
albedo Rangifer tarandus tundra herbivore climate vegetation interactions Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
description |
Vegetation has a profound impact on climate through complex interactions and feedback loops, where especially regulation of albedo, the ratio of reflected to incoming solar radiation, is important at high latitudes. How vegetation albedo varies along environmental gradients in tundra ecosystems is still not well understood, particularly for ecosystems dominated by nonvascular vegetation. We studied broadband shortwave albedo of open boreal, arctic, and alpine ecosystems over a 2000 km long latitudinal gradient (60° N–79° N) and contrasted this against species composition, vegetation greenness (normalised difference vegetation index—NDVI), momentary ecosystem CO _2 fluxes and reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus ) grazing pressure. High cover of pale terricolous fruticose lichens was the single most important predictor for vegetation albedo, which had a maximum value of 0.389 under clear sky conditions and solar zenith angle 60°. To our knowledge, this is the highest broadband albedo recorded for a vegetated surface. NDVI was negatively correlated to lichen biomass ( r _s = −0.56), and albedo ( r _s = −0.19). Gross primary production and ecosystem respiration varied considerably less between plots and vegetation types than albedo. While it is well-known that Rangifer affects climate-relevant aboveground biomass, we here show that its regulation of surface albedo in northern ecosystems may also be of high importance for land-atmosphere interactions. The data presented here thus advocate for an increased understanding of the important and complex role of herbivores and lichen cover in climate-vegetation interactions. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Eirik A Finne Jarle W Bjerke Rasmus Erlandsson Hans Tømmervik Frode Stordal Lena M Tallaksen |
author_facet |
Eirik A Finne Jarle W Bjerke Rasmus Erlandsson Hans Tømmervik Frode Stordal Lena M Tallaksen |
author_sort |
Eirik A Finne |
title |
Variation in albedo and other vegetation characteristics in non-forested northern ecosystems: the role of lichens and mosses |
title_short |
Variation in albedo and other vegetation characteristics in non-forested northern ecosystems: the role of lichens and mosses |
title_full |
Variation in albedo and other vegetation characteristics in non-forested northern ecosystems: the role of lichens and mosses |
title_fullStr |
Variation in albedo and other vegetation characteristics in non-forested northern ecosystems: the role of lichens and mosses |
title_full_unstemmed |
Variation in albedo and other vegetation characteristics in non-forested northern ecosystems: the role of lichens and mosses |
title_sort |
variation in albedo and other vegetation characteristics in non-forested northern ecosystems: the role of lichens and mosses |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ace06d https://doaj.org/article/f1f73555c030443eb5b54a6ab560f6b4 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
albedo Arctic Rangifer tarandus Tundra |
genre_facet |
albedo Arctic Rangifer tarandus Tundra |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters, Vol 18, Iss 7, p 074038 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ace06d https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ace06d 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/f1f73555c030443eb5b54a6ab560f6b4 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ace06d |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
18 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
074038 |
_version_ |
1776204750697529344 |