Documenting Annual Differences in Vegetation Cover, Height and Diversity near Barrow, Alaska
Vegetation in the Arctic has been shown to respond to climate change. Documented changes have the potential to result in numerous ecosystem consequences. Therefore, understanding vegetation change is of great importance. This study documents changes in tundra vegetation with a focus on understanding...
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ftgvstateuniv:oai:scholarworks.gvsu.edu:theses-1767 2023-05-15T15:14:33+02:00 Documenting Annual Differences in Vegetation Cover, Height and Diversity near Barrow, Alaska Botting, Timothy Frederick 2015-04-01T07:00:00Z application/pdf https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/theses/767 https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1767&context=theses unknown ScholarWorks@GVSU https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/theses/767 https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1767&context=theses Masters Theses Vegetation communities climate cover height diversity Biology text 2015 ftgvstateuniv 2022-12-09T08:12:31Z Vegetation in the Arctic has been shown to respond to climate change. Documented changes have the potential to result in numerous ecosystem consequences. Therefore, understanding vegetation change is of great importance. This study documents changes in tundra vegetation with a focus on understanding the influence of annual differences in weather. Vegetation was sampled using a point frame method on 98 1-m2 plots in 2010 and 2013 near Barrow, Alaska. A subset of 30 of these plots was also sampled in 2012 and 2014. Plant encounters were identified to species and grouped into one of the following functional groups: bryophytes, deciduous shrubs, forbs, graminoids, lichens, litter or standing dead. Plant height and species diversity metrics were also calculated. The following abiotic variables were used to quantify difference in weather between years: air temperature, precipitation, thawing degree days, thaw depth, soil temperature and soil moisture. For analysis, focus was on the 30 plots that were sampled over 4 years. The cover of all functional groups, the height of graminoids and alpha diversity changed significantly; the magnitude of changes was large. Significant correlations occurred between the following vegetation metrics and abiotic variables: the cover of forbs and soil temperature; the cover of graminoids and all abiotic variables except soil moisture; the cover of litter and air temperature, thawing degree days, soil temperature and soil moisture; the cover of standing dead and all measured abiotic variables; and the height of graminoids and soil moisture. The strongest correlations between abiotic variables and vegetation metrics varied between functional groups; this suggests multiple abiotic factors should be considered when attempting to explain observed changes. In summary, this study found large annual changes in vegetation cover, height and diversity that were presumably due to variability in weather of each year. While a longer consecutive time series is needed to better understand the ... Text Arctic Barrow Climate change Tundra Alaska Grand Valley State University: Scholar Works @ GVSU Arctic |
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Grand Valley State University: Scholar Works @ GVSU |
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Vegetation communities climate cover height diversity Biology |
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Vegetation communities climate cover height diversity Biology Botting, Timothy Frederick Documenting Annual Differences in Vegetation Cover, Height and Diversity near Barrow, Alaska |
topic_facet |
Vegetation communities climate cover height diversity Biology |
description |
Vegetation in the Arctic has been shown to respond to climate change. Documented changes have the potential to result in numerous ecosystem consequences. Therefore, understanding vegetation change is of great importance. This study documents changes in tundra vegetation with a focus on understanding the influence of annual differences in weather. Vegetation was sampled using a point frame method on 98 1-m2 plots in 2010 and 2013 near Barrow, Alaska. A subset of 30 of these plots was also sampled in 2012 and 2014. Plant encounters were identified to species and grouped into one of the following functional groups: bryophytes, deciduous shrubs, forbs, graminoids, lichens, litter or standing dead. Plant height and species diversity metrics were also calculated. The following abiotic variables were used to quantify difference in weather between years: air temperature, precipitation, thawing degree days, thaw depth, soil temperature and soil moisture. For analysis, focus was on the 30 plots that were sampled over 4 years. The cover of all functional groups, the height of graminoids and alpha diversity changed significantly; the magnitude of changes was large. Significant correlations occurred between the following vegetation metrics and abiotic variables: the cover of forbs and soil temperature; the cover of graminoids and all abiotic variables except soil moisture; the cover of litter and air temperature, thawing degree days, soil temperature and soil moisture; the cover of standing dead and all measured abiotic variables; and the height of graminoids and soil moisture. The strongest correlations between abiotic variables and vegetation metrics varied between functional groups; this suggests multiple abiotic factors should be considered when attempting to explain observed changes. In summary, this study found large annual changes in vegetation cover, height and diversity that were presumably due to variability in weather of each year. While a longer consecutive time series is needed to better understand the ... |
format |
Text |
author |
Botting, Timothy Frederick |
author_facet |
Botting, Timothy Frederick |
author_sort |
Botting, Timothy Frederick |
title |
Documenting Annual Differences in Vegetation Cover, Height and Diversity near Barrow, Alaska |
title_short |
Documenting Annual Differences in Vegetation Cover, Height and Diversity near Barrow, Alaska |
title_full |
Documenting Annual Differences in Vegetation Cover, Height and Diversity near Barrow, Alaska |
title_fullStr |
Documenting Annual Differences in Vegetation Cover, Height and Diversity near Barrow, Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
Documenting Annual Differences in Vegetation Cover, Height and Diversity near Barrow, Alaska |
title_sort |
documenting annual differences in vegetation cover, height and diversity near barrow, alaska |
publisher |
ScholarWorks@GVSU |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/theses/767 https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1767&context=theses |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Barrow Climate change Tundra Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Barrow Climate change Tundra Alaska |
op_source |
Masters Theses |
op_relation |
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/theses/767 https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1767&context=theses |
_version_ |
1766344993178386432 |