Herbivore absence can shift dry heath tundra from carbon source to sink during peak growing season
In arctic tundra, large and small mammalian herbivores have substantial impacts on the vegetation community and consequently can affect the magnitude of carbon cycling. However, herbivores are often absent from modern carbon cycle models, partly because relatively few field studies focus on herbivor...
Published in: | Environmental Research Letters |
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abd3d0 https://doaj.org/article/ffca78fd393e426181df1daee83478d9 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:ffca78fd393e426181df1daee83478d9 2023-09-05T13:17:16+02:00 Herbivore absence can shift dry heath tundra from carbon source to sink during peak growing season Elizabeth Min Megan E Wilcots Shahid Naeem Laura Gough Jennie R McLaren Rebecca J Rowe Edward B Rastetter Natalie T Boelman Kevin L Griffin 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abd3d0 https://doaj.org/article/ffca78fd393e426181df1daee83478d9 EN eng IOP Publishing https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abd3d0 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/abd3d0 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/ffca78fd393e426181df1daee83478d9 Environmental Research Letters, Vol 16, Iss 2, p 024027 (2021) net ecosystem exchange low arctic herbivory tundra vegetation ecosystem respiration gross primary production 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/abd3d0 2023-08-13T00:37:20Z In arctic tundra, large and small mammalian herbivores have substantial impacts on the vegetation community and consequently can affect the magnitude of carbon cycling. However, herbivores are often absent from modern carbon cycle models, partly because relatively few field studies focus on herbivore impacts on carbon cycling. Our objectives were to quantify the impact of 21 years of large herbivore and large and small herbivore exclusion on carbon cycling during peak growing season in a dry heath tundra community. When herbivores were excluded, we observed a significantly greater leaf area index as well as greater vascular plant abundance. While we did not observe significant differences in deciduous dwarf shrub abundance across treatments, evergreen dwarf shrub abundance was greater where large and small herbivores were excluded. Both foliose and fruticose lichen abundance were higher in the large herbivore, but not the small and large herbivore exclosures. Net ecosystem exchange (NEE) likewise indicated the highest carbon uptake in the exclosure treatments and lowest uptake in the control (CT), suggesting that herbivory decreased the capacity of dry heath tundra to take up carbon. Moreover, our calculated NEE for average light and temperature conditions for July 2017, when our measurements were taken, indicated that the tundra was a carbon source in CT, but was a carbon sink in both exclosure treatments, indicating removal of grazing pressure can change the carbon balance of dry heath tundra. Collectively, these findings suggest that herbivore absence can lead to changes in plant community structure of dry heath tundra that in turn can increase its capacity to take up carbon. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Tundra Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Environmental Research Letters 16 2 024027 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
net ecosystem exchange low arctic herbivory tundra vegetation ecosystem respiration gross primary production Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
spellingShingle |
net ecosystem exchange low arctic herbivory tundra vegetation ecosystem respiration gross primary production Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 Elizabeth Min Megan E Wilcots Shahid Naeem Laura Gough Jennie R McLaren Rebecca J Rowe Edward B Rastetter Natalie T Boelman Kevin L Griffin Herbivore absence can shift dry heath tundra from carbon source to sink during peak growing season |
topic_facet |
net ecosystem exchange low arctic herbivory tundra vegetation ecosystem respiration gross primary production Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
description |
In arctic tundra, large and small mammalian herbivores have substantial impacts on the vegetation community and consequently can affect the magnitude of carbon cycling. However, herbivores are often absent from modern carbon cycle models, partly because relatively few field studies focus on herbivore impacts on carbon cycling. Our objectives were to quantify the impact of 21 years of large herbivore and large and small herbivore exclusion on carbon cycling during peak growing season in a dry heath tundra community. When herbivores were excluded, we observed a significantly greater leaf area index as well as greater vascular plant abundance. While we did not observe significant differences in deciduous dwarf shrub abundance across treatments, evergreen dwarf shrub abundance was greater where large and small herbivores were excluded. Both foliose and fruticose lichen abundance were higher in the large herbivore, but not the small and large herbivore exclosures. Net ecosystem exchange (NEE) likewise indicated the highest carbon uptake in the exclosure treatments and lowest uptake in the control (CT), suggesting that herbivory decreased the capacity of dry heath tundra to take up carbon. Moreover, our calculated NEE for average light and temperature conditions for July 2017, when our measurements were taken, indicated that the tundra was a carbon source in CT, but was a carbon sink in both exclosure treatments, indicating removal of grazing pressure can change the carbon balance of dry heath tundra. Collectively, these findings suggest that herbivore absence can lead to changes in plant community structure of dry heath tundra that in turn can increase its capacity to take up carbon. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Elizabeth Min Megan E Wilcots Shahid Naeem Laura Gough Jennie R McLaren Rebecca J Rowe Edward B Rastetter Natalie T Boelman Kevin L Griffin |
author_facet |
Elizabeth Min Megan E Wilcots Shahid Naeem Laura Gough Jennie R McLaren Rebecca J Rowe Edward B Rastetter Natalie T Boelman Kevin L Griffin |
author_sort |
Elizabeth Min |
title |
Herbivore absence can shift dry heath tundra from carbon source to sink during peak growing season |
title_short |
Herbivore absence can shift dry heath tundra from carbon source to sink during peak growing season |
title_full |
Herbivore absence can shift dry heath tundra from carbon source to sink during peak growing season |
title_fullStr |
Herbivore absence can shift dry heath tundra from carbon source to sink during peak growing season |
title_full_unstemmed |
Herbivore absence can shift dry heath tundra from carbon source to sink during peak growing season |
title_sort |
herbivore absence can shift dry heath tundra from carbon source to sink during peak growing season |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abd3d0 https://doaj.org/article/ffca78fd393e426181df1daee83478d9 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Tundra |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters, Vol 16, Iss 2, p 024027 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abd3d0 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/abd3d0 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/ffca78fd393e426181df1daee83478d9 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abd3d0 |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
024027 |
_version_ |
1776198505155526656 |