Topographic heterogeneity and aspect moderate exposure to climate change across an alpine tundra hillslope
Alpine tundra ecosystems are highly vulnerable to climate warming but are governed by local-scale abiotic heterogeneity, which makes it difficult to predict tundra responses to environmental change. Although land models are typically implemented at global scales, they can be applied at local scales...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences |
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Language: | English |
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2023
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JG007664 |
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ftncar:oai:drupal-site.org:articles_26757 2024-06-23T07:57:16+00:00 Topographic heterogeneity and aspect moderate exposure to climate change across an alpine tundra hillslope Jay, K. R. (author) Wieder, William R. (author) Swenson, Sean C. (author) Knowles, J. F. (author) Elmendorf, S. C. (author) Holland‐Moritz, H. (author) Suding, K. N. (author) 2023-11-27 https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JG007664 en eng Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences--JGR Biogeosciences--2169-8953--2169-8961 articles:26757 doi:10.1029/2023JG007664 ark:/85065/d7qv3rk4 Copyright 2023 American Geophysical Union (AGU). article Text 2023 ftncar https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JG007664 2024-06-03T14:12:11Z Alpine tundra ecosystems are highly vulnerable to climate warming but are governed by local-scale abiotic heterogeneity, which makes it difficult to predict tundra responses to environmental change. Although land models are typically implemented at global scales, they can be applied at local scales to address process-based ecological questions. In this study, we ran ecosystem-scale Community Land Model (CLM) simulations with a novel hillslope hydrology configuration to represent topographically heterogeneous alpine tundra vegetation across a moisture gradient at Niwot Ridge, Colorado, USA. We used local observations to evaluate our simulations and investigated the role of topography and aspect in mediating patterns of snow, productivity, soil moisture, and soil temperature, as well as the potential exposure to climate change across an alpine tundra hillslope. Overall, our simulations captured observed gradients in abiotic conditions and productivity among heterogeneous, hydrologically connected vegetation communities (moist, wet, and dry). We found that south facing aspects were characterized by reduced snowpack and drier and warmer soils in all communities. When we extended our simulations to the year 2100, we found that earlier snowmelt altered the timing of runoff, with cascading effects on soil moisture, productivity, and growing season length. However, these effects were not distributed equally across the tundra, highlighting potential vulnerabilities of alpine vegetation in dry, wind-scoured, and south facing areas. Overall, our results demonstrate how land model outputs can be applied to advance process-based understanding of climate change impacts on ecosystem function. 1755088 2120804 Article in Journal/Newspaper Tundra OpenSky (NCAR/UCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 128 11 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
OpenSky (NCAR/UCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) |
op_collection_id |
ftncar |
language |
English |
description |
Alpine tundra ecosystems are highly vulnerable to climate warming but are governed by local-scale abiotic heterogeneity, which makes it difficult to predict tundra responses to environmental change. Although land models are typically implemented at global scales, they can be applied at local scales to address process-based ecological questions. In this study, we ran ecosystem-scale Community Land Model (CLM) simulations with a novel hillslope hydrology configuration to represent topographically heterogeneous alpine tundra vegetation across a moisture gradient at Niwot Ridge, Colorado, USA. We used local observations to evaluate our simulations and investigated the role of topography and aspect in mediating patterns of snow, productivity, soil moisture, and soil temperature, as well as the potential exposure to climate change across an alpine tundra hillslope. Overall, our simulations captured observed gradients in abiotic conditions and productivity among heterogeneous, hydrologically connected vegetation communities (moist, wet, and dry). We found that south facing aspects were characterized by reduced snowpack and drier and warmer soils in all communities. When we extended our simulations to the year 2100, we found that earlier snowmelt altered the timing of runoff, with cascading effects on soil moisture, productivity, and growing season length. However, these effects were not distributed equally across the tundra, highlighting potential vulnerabilities of alpine vegetation in dry, wind-scoured, and south facing areas. Overall, our results demonstrate how land model outputs can be applied to advance process-based understanding of climate change impacts on ecosystem function. 1755088 2120804 |
author2 |
Jay, K. R. (author) Wieder, William R. (author) Swenson, Sean C. (author) Knowles, J. F. (author) Elmendorf, S. C. (author) Holland‐Moritz, H. (author) Suding, K. N. (author) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
title |
Topographic heterogeneity and aspect moderate exposure to climate change across an alpine tundra hillslope |
spellingShingle |
Topographic heterogeneity and aspect moderate exposure to climate change across an alpine tundra hillslope |
title_short |
Topographic heterogeneity and aspect moderate exposure to climate change across an alpine tundra hillslope |
title_full |
Topographic heterogeneity and aspect moderate exposure to climate change across an alpine tundra hillslope |
title_fullStr |
Topographic heterogeneity and aspect moderate exposure to climate change across an alpine tundra hillslope |
title_full_unstemmed |
Topographic heterogeneity and aspect moderate exposure to climate change across an alpine tundra hillslope |
title_sort |
topographic heterogeneity and aspect moderate exposure to climate change across an alpine tundra hillslope |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JG007664 |
genre |
Tundra |
genre_facet |
Tundra |
op_relation |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences--JGR Biogeosciences--2169-8953--2169-8961 articles:26757 doi:10.1029/2023JG007664 ark:/85065/d7qv3rk4 |
op_rights |
Copyright 2023 American Geophysical Union (AGU). |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JG007664 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences |
container_volume |
128 |
container_issue |
11 |
_version_ |
1802650814551949312 |