Data from: Ground ice melt in the high Arctic leads to greater ecological heterogeneity
1. The polar desert biome of the Canadian high Arctic Archipelago is currently experiencing some of the greatest mean annual air temperature increases on the planet, threatening the stability of ecosystems residing above temperature-sensitive permafrost. 2. Ice wedges are the most widespread form of...
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ftdryad:oai:v1.datadryad.org:10255/dryad.99372 2023-05-15T14:26:12+02:00 Data from: Ground ice melt in the high Arctic leads to greater ecological heterogeneity Becker, Michael S. Davies, T. Jonathan Pollard, Wayne H. high Arctic Ellesmere Island Fosheim Peninsula Recent 2015-10-21T17:58:48Z http://hdl.handle.net/10255/dryad.99372 https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.5n628 unknown doi:10.5061/dryad.5n628/1 doi:10.5061/dryad.5n628/2 doi:10.5061/dryad.5n628/3 doi:10.1111/1365-2745.12491 doi:10.5061/dryad.5n628 Becker MS, Davies TJ, Pollard WH (2015) Ground ice melt in the high Arctic leads to greater ecological heterogeneity. Journal of Ecology 104(1): 114–124. http://hdl.handle.net/10255/dryad.99372 biodiversity climate change determinants of plant community diversity and structure ice-wedges permafrost plant–climate interactions polar desert species richness thermokarst Article 2015 ftdryad https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.5n628 https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.5n628/1 https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.5n628/2 https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.5n628/3 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12491 2020-02-24T15:59:46Z 1. The polar desert biome of the Canadian high Arctic Archipelago is currently experiencing some of the greatest mean annual air temperature increases on the planet, threatening the stability of ecosystems residing above temperature-sensitive permafrost. 2. Ice wedges are the most widespread form of ground ice, occurring in up to 25% of the world's terrestrial near-surface, and their melting (thermokarst) may catalyze a suite of biotic and ecological changes, facilitating major ecosystem shifts. 3. These unknown ecosystem shifts raise serious questions as to how permafrost stability, vegetation diversity, and edaphic conditions will change with a warming high Arctic. Ecosystem and thermokarst processes tend to be examined independently, limiting our understanding of a coupled system whereby the effect of climate change on one will affect the outcome of the other. 4. Using in-depth, comprehensive field observations and a space-for-time approach, we investigate the highly structured landscape that has emerged due to the thermokarst-induced partitioning of microhabitats. We examine differences in vegetation diversity, community composition, and soil conditions on the Fosheim Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut. We hypothesize that: (i) greater ice wedge subsidence results in increased vegetation cover due to elevated soil moisture, thereby decreasing the seasonal depth of thaw and restricting groundwater outflow; (ii) thermokarst processes result in altered vegetation richness, turnover, and dispersion, with greater microhabitat diversity at the landscape scale; (iii) shifts in hydrology and plant community structure alter soil chemistry. 5. We found that the disturbance caused by melting ice wedges catalyzes a suite of environmental and biotic effects: topographical changes, a new hydrological balance, significant species richness and turnover changes, and distinct soil chemistries. Thermokarst areas favour a subset of species unique from the polar desert and are characterized by greater species turnover (β-diversity) across the landscape. 6. Synthesis. Our findings suggest that projected increases of thermokarst in the polar desert will lead to the increased partitioning of microhabitats, creating a more heterogeneous high arctic landscape through diverging vegetation communities and edaphic conditions, resulting in a wetland-like biome in the high Arctic that could replace much of the ice-rich polar desert. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Archipelago Arctic Climate change Ellesmere Island Fosheim Peninsula Ice Nunavut permafrost polar desert Thermokarst wedge* Dryad Digital Repository (Duke University) Arctic Ellesmere Island Fosheim Peninsula ENVELOPE(-83.749,-83.749,79.669,79.669) Nunavut |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Dryad Digital Repository (Duke University) |
op_collection_id |
ftdryad |
language |
unknown |
topic |
biodiversity climate change determinants of plant community diversity and structure ice-wedges permafrost plant–climate interactions polar desert species richness thermokarst |
spellingShingle |
biodiversity climate change determinants of plant community diversity and structure ice-wedges permafrost plant–climate interactions polar desert species richness thermokarst Becker, Michael S. Davies, T. Jonathan Pollard, Wayne H. Data from: Ground ice melt in the high Arctic leads to greater ecological heterogeneity |
topic_facet |
biodiversity climate change determinants of plant community diversity and structure ice-wedges permafrost plant–climate interactions polar desert species richness thermokarst |
description |
1. The polar desert biome of the Canadian high Arctic Archipelago is currently experiencing some of the greatest mean annual air temperature increases on the planet, threatening the stability of ecosystems residing above temperature-sensitive permafrost. 2. Ice wedges are the most widespread form of ground ice, occurring in up to 25% of the world's terrestrial near-surface, and their melting (thermokarst) may catalyze a suite of biotic and ecological changes, facilitating major ecosystem shifts. 3. These unknown ecosystem shifts raise serious questions as to how permafrost stability, vegetation diversity, and edaphic conditions will change with a warming high Arctic. Ecosystem and thermokarst processes tend to be examined independently, limiting our understanding of a coupled system whereby the effect of climate change on one will affect the outcome of the other. 4. Using in-depth, comprehensive field observations and a space-for-time approach, we investigate the highly structured landscape that has emerged due to the thermokarst-induced partitioning of microhabitats. We examine differences in vegetation diversity, community composition, and soil conditions on the Fosheim Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut. We hypothesize that: (i) greater ice wedge subsidence results in increased vegetation cover due to elevated soil moisture, thereby decreasing the seasonal depth of thaw and restricting groundwater outflow; (ii) thermokarst processes result in altered vegetation richness, turnover, and dispersion, with greater microhabitat diversity at the landscape scale; (iii) shifts in hydrology and plant community structure alter soil chemistry. 5. We found that the disturbance caused by melting ice wedges catalyzes a suite of environmental and biotic effects: topographical changes, a new hydrological balance, significant species richness and turnover changes, and distinct soil chemistries. Thermokarst areas favour a subset of species unique from the polar desert and are characterized by greater species turnover (β-diversity) across the landscape. 6. Synthesis. Our findings suggest that projected increases of thermokarst in the polar desert will lead to the increased partitioning of microhabitats, creating a more heterogeneous high arctic landscape through diverging vegetation communities and edaphic conditions, resulting in a wetland-like biome in the high Arctic that could replace much of the ice-rich polar desert. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Becker, Michael S. Davies, T. Jonathan Pollard, Wayne H. |
author_facet |
Becker, Michael S. Davies, T. Jonathan Pollard, Wayne H. |
author_sort |
Becker, Michael S. |
title |
Data from: Ground ice melt in the high Arctic leads to greater ecological heterogeneity |
title_short |
Data from: Ground ice melt in the high Arctic leads to greater ecological heterogeneity |
title_full |
Data from: Ground ice melt in the high Arctic leads to greater ecological heterogeneity |
title_fullStr |
Data from: Ground ice melt in the high Arctic leads to greater ecological heterogeneity |
title_full_unstemmed |
Data from: Ground ice melt in the high Arctic leads to greater ecological heterogeneity |
title_sort |
data from: ground ice melt in the high arctic leads to greater ecological heterogeneity |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10255/dryad.99372 https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.5n628 |
op_coverage |
high Arctic Ellesmere Island Fosheim Peninsula Recent |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-83.749,-83.749,79.669,79.669) |
geographic |
Arctic Ellesmere Island Fosheim Peninsula Nunavut |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Ellesmere Island Fosheim Peninsula Nunavut |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Archipelago Arctic Climate change Ellesmere Island Fosheim Peninsula Ice Nunavut permafrost polar desert Thermokarst wedge* |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Archipelago Arctic Climate change Ellesmere Island Fosheim Peninsula Ice Nunavut permafrost polar desert Thermokarst wedge* |
op_relation |
doi:10.5061/dryad.5n628/1 doi:10.5061/dryad.5n628/2 doi:10.5061/dryad.5n628/3 doi:10.1111/1365-2745.12491 doi:10.5061/dryad.5n628 Becker MS, Davies TJ, Pollard WH (2015) Ground ice melt in the high Arctic leads to greater ecological heterogeneity. Journal of Ecology 104(1): 114–124. http://hdl.handle.net/10255/dryad.99372 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.5n628 https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.5n628/1 https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.5n628/2 https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.5n628/3 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12491 |
_version_ |
1766298671730655232 |