Legacies of Historical Exploitation of Natural Resources Are More Important Than Summer Warming for Recent Biomass Increases in a Boreal–Arctic Transition Region
Eurasian forest cover at high northern latitudes (> 67 N) has increased in recent decades due to stimulatory effects of global warming, but other factors may be important. The objective of this study is to compare the importance of historical human exploitation and climate change. Periodic inform...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2603838 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-019-00352-2 |
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ftninstnf:oai:brage.nina.no:11250/2603838 2023-05-15T15:00:42+02:00 Legacies of Historical Exploitation of Natural Resources Are More Important Than Summer Warming for Recent Biomass Increases in a Boreal–Arctic Transition Region Tømmervik, Hans Bjerke, Jarle W. Park, Taejin Hanssen, Frank Ole Myneni, Ranga B. 2019 application/octet-stream http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2603838 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-019-00352-2 eng eng urn:issn:1432-9840 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2603838 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-019-00352-2 cristin:1686565 © 2019 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature Ecosystems northernmost forests Scots pine downy birch historical data biomass NDVI remote sensing grazing harvesting Second World War VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 Peer reviewed 2019 ftninstnf https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-019-00352-2 2021-12-23T07:16:54Z Eurasian forest cover at high northern latitudes (> 67 N) has increased in recent decades due to stimulatory effects of global warming, but other factors may be important. The objective of this study is to compare the importance of historical human exploitation and climate change. Periodic information on forest and tundra resources along with human and domestic animal populations and forest harvesting was collected from sources like official statistics and maps and compiled for joint analysis. Our results show that the northernmost birch and Scots pine forests of the world often presumed as pristine were repeatedly exploited by logging, agriculture and grazing in the last century. In addition, repeated moth outbreaks have also had regulatory impacts on birch forest development. Despite these disturbances, forested area quadrupled during the period, largely because of reduced human activities in recent decades. Linear modelling confirms that the most important predictors for the variation in Scots pine and birch biomass and area were logging, grazing and farming activity, and not climatic changes. The dynamics in the forest cover over the last century seem to follow the ‘repeated human perturbation’ scenario. This study’s application of legacy data, and historical and long-term data and evaluation of how the different drivers impacted some of the northernmost forests are essential to understand whether the greening of the boreal and arctic regions is a result of recent climate change or a recovery from earlier human impacts. Text Arctic Climate change Global warming Tundra Norwegian Institute for Nature Research: Brage NINA Arctic Ecosystems 22 7 1512 1529 |
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Open Polar |
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Norwegian Institute for Nature Research: Brage NINA |
op_collection_id |
ftninstnf |
language |
English |
topic |
northernmost forests Scots pine downy birch historical data biomass NDVI remote sensing grazing harvesting Second World War VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 |
spellingShingle |
northernmost forests Scots pine downy birch historical data biomass NDVI remote sensing grazing harvesting Second World War VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 Tømmervik, Hans Bjerke, Jarle W. Park, Taejin Hanssen, Frank Ole Myneni, Ranga B. Legacies of Historical Exploitation of Natural Resources Are More Important Than Summer Warming for Recent Biomass Increases in a Boreal–Arctic Transition Region |
topic_facet |
northernmost forests Scots pine downy birch historical data biomass NDVI remote sensing grazing harvesting Second World War VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 |
description |
Eurasian forest cover at high northern latitudes (> 67 N) has increased in recent decades due to stimulatory effects of global warming, but other factors may be important. The objective of this study is to compare the importance of historical human exploitation and climate change. Periodic information on forest and tundra resources along with human and domestic animal populations and forest harvesting was collected from sources like official statistics and maps and compiled for joint analysis. Our results show that the northernmost birch and Scots pine forests of the world often presumed as pristine were repeatedly exploited by logging, agriculture and grazing in the last century. In addition, repeated moth outbreaks have also had regulatory impacts on birch forest development. Despite these disturbances, forested area quadrupled during the period, largely because of reduced human activities in recent decades. Linear modelling confirms that the most important predictors for the variation in Scots pine and birch biomass and area were logging, grazing and farming activity, and not climatic changes. The dynamics in the forest cover over the last century seem to follow the ‘repeated human perturbation’ scenario. This study’s application of legacy data, and historical and long-term data and evaluation of how the different drivers impacted some of the northernmost forests are essential to understand whether the greening of the boreal and arctic regions is a result of recent climate change or a recovery from earlier human impacts. |
format |
Text |
author |
Tømmervik, Hans Bjerke, Jarle W. Park, Taejin Hanssen, Frank Ole Myneni, Ranga B. |
author_facet |
Tømmervik, Hans Bjerke, Jarle W. Park, Taejin Hanssen, Frank Ole Myneni, Ranga B. |
author_sort |
Tømmervik, Hans |
title |
Legacies of Historical Exploitation of Natural Resources Are More Important Than Summer Warming for Recent Biomass Increases in a Boreal–Arctic Transition Region |
title_short |
Legacies of Historical Exploitation of Natural Resources Are More Important Than Summer Warming for Recent Biomass Increases in a Boreal–Arctic Transition Region |
title_full |
Legacies of Historical Exploitation of Natural Resources Are More Important Than Summer Warming for Recent Biomass Increases in a Boreal–Arctic Transition Region |
title_fullStr |
Legacies of Historical Exploitation of Natural Resources Are More Important Than Summer Warming for Recent Biomass Increases in a Boreal–Arctic Transition Region |
title_full_unstemmed |
Legacies of Historical Exploitation of Natural Resources Are More Important Than Summer Warming for Recent Biomass Increases in a Boreal–Arctic Transition Region |
title_sort |
legacies of historical exploitation of natural resources are more important than summer warming for recent biomass increases in a boreal–arctic transition region |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2603838 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-019-00352-2 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Climate change Global warming Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change Global warming Tundra |
op_source |
Ecosystems |
op_relation |
urn:issn:1432-9840 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2603838 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-019-00352-2 cristin:1686565 |
op_rights |
© 2019 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-019-00352-2 |
container_title |
Ecosystems |
container_volume |
22 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
1512 |
op_container_end_page |
1529 |
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1766332774774472704 |