Location of studies and evidence of effects of herbivory on Arctic vegetation: a systematic map
Background Herbivores modify the structure and function of tundra ecosystems. Understanding their impacts is necessary to assess the responses of these ecosystems to ongoing environmental changes. However, the effects of herbivores on plants and ecosystem structure and function vary across the Arcti...
Published in: | Environmental Evidence |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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2021
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10852/88975 http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-91588 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-021-00240-0 |
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Open Polar |
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Universitet i Oslo: Digitale utgivelser ved UiO (DUO) |
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ftoslouniv |
language |
English |
description |
Background Herbivores modify the structure and function of tundra ecosystems. Understanding their impacts is necessary to assess the responses of these ecosystems to ongoing environmental changes. However, the effects of herbivores on plants and ecosystem structure and function vary across the Arctic. Strong spatial variation in herbivore effects implies that the results of individual studies on herbivory depend on local conditions, i.e., their ecological context. An important first step in assessing whether generalizable conclusions can be produced is to identify the existing studies and assess how well they cover the underlying environmental conditions across the Arctic. This systematic map aims to identify the ecological contexts in which herbivore impacts on vegetation have been studied in the Arctic. Specifically, the primary question of the systematic map was: “What evidence exists on the effects of herbivores on Arctic vegetation?”. Methods We used a published systematic map protocol to identify studies addressing the effects of herbivores on Arctic vegetation. We conducted searches for relevant literature in online databases, search engines and specialist websites. Literature was screened to identify eligible studies, defined as reporting primary data on herbivore impacts on Arctic plants and plant communities. We extracted information on variables that describe the ecological context of the studies, from the studies themselves and from geospatial data. We synthesized the findings narratively and created a Shiny App where the coded data are searchable and variables can be visually explored. Review findings We identified 309 relevant articles with 662 studies (representing different ecological contexts or datasets within the same article). These studies addressed vertebrate herbivory seven times more often than invertebrate herbivory. Geographically, the largest cluster of studies was in Northern Fennoscandia. Warmer and wetter parts of the Arctic had the largest representation, as did coastal areas and areas where the increase in temperature has been moderate. In contrast, studies spanned the full range of ecological context variables describing Arctic vertebrate herbivore diversity and human population density and impact. Conclusions The current evidence base might not be sufficient to understand the effects of herbivores on Arctic vegetation throughout the region, as we identified clear biases in the distribution of herbivore studies in the Arctic and a limited evidence base on invertebrate herbivory. In particular, the overrepresentation of studies in areas with moderate increases in temperature prevents robust generalizations about the effects of herbivores under different climatic scenarios. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Soininen, E. M. Barrio, I. C. Bjørkås, R. Björnsdóttir, K. Ehrich, D. Hopping, K. A. Kaarlejärvi, E. Kolstad, A. L. Abdulmanova, S. Björk, R. G. Bueno, C. G. Eischeid, I. Finger-Higgens, R. Forbey, J. S. Gignac, C. Gilg, O. den Herder, M. Holm, H. S. Hwang, B. C. Jepsen, J. U. Kamenova, S. Kater, I. Koltz, A. M. Kristensen, J. A. Little, C. J. Macek, P. Mathisen, K. M. Metcalfe, D. B. Mosbacher, J. B. Mörsdorf, M. Park, T. Propster, J. R. Roberts, A. J. Serrano, E. Spiegel, M. P. Tamayo, M. Tuomi, M. W. Verma, M. Vuorinen, K. E. M. Väisänen, M. van der Wal, R. Wilcots, M. E. Yoccoz, N. G. Speed, J. D. M. |
spellingShingle |
Soininen, E. M. Barrio, I. C. Bjørkås, R. Björnsdóttir, K. Ehrich, D. Hopping, K. A. Kaarlejärvi, E. Kolstad, A. L. Abdulmanova, S. Björk, R. G. Bueno, C. G. Eischeid, I. Finger-Higgens, R. Forbey, J. S. Gignac, C. Gilg, O. den Herder, M. Holm, H. S. Hwang, B. C. Jepsen, J. U. Kamenova, S. Kater, I. Koltz, A. M. Kristensen, J. A. Little, C. J. Macek, P. Mathisen, K. M. Metcalfe, D. B. Mosbacher, J. B. Mörsdorf, M. Park, T. Propster, J. R. Roberts, A. J. Serrano, E. Spiegel, M. P. Tamayo, M. Tuomi, M. W. Verma, M. Vuorinen, K. E. M. Väisänen, M. van der Wal, R. Wilcots, M. E. Yoccoz, N. G. Speed, J. D. M. Location of studies and evidence of effects of herbivory on Arctic vegetation: a systematic map |
author_facet |
Soininen, E. M. Barrio, I. C. Bjørkås, R. Björnsdóttir, K. Ehrich, D. Hopping, K. A. Kaarlejärvi, E. Kolstad, A. L. Abdulmanova, S. Björk, R. G. Bueno, C. G. Eischeid, I. Finger-Higgens, R. Forbey, J. S. Gignac, C. Gilg, O. den Herder, M. Holm, H. S. Hwang, B. C. Jepsen, J. U. Kamenova, S. Kater, I. Koltz, A. M. Kristensen, J. A. Little, C. J. Macek, P. Mathisen, K. M. Metcalfe, D. B. Mosbacher, J. B. Mörsdorf, M. Park, T. Propster, J. R. Roberts, A. J. Serrano, E. Spiegel, M. P. Tamayo, M. Tuomi, M. W. Verma, M. Vuorinen, K. E. M. Väisänen, M. van der Wal, R. Wilcots, M. E. Yoccoz, N. G. Speed, J. D. M. |
author_sort |
Soininen, E. M. |
title |
Location of studies and evidence of effects of herbivory on Arctic vegetation: a systematic map |
title_short |
Location of studies and evidence of effects of herbivory on Arctic vegetation: a systematic map |
title_full |
Location of studies and evidence of effects of herbivory on Arctic vegetation: a systematic map |
title_fullStr |
Location of studies and evidence of effects of herbivory on Arctic vegetation: a systematic map |
title_full_unstemmed |
Location of studies and evidence of effects of herbivory on Arctic vegetation: a systematic map |
title_sort |
location of studies and evidence of effects of herbivory on arctic vegetation: a systematic map |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10852/88975 http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-91588 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-021-00240-0 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Fennoscandia Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Fennoscandia Tundra |
op_relation |
http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-91588 Environmental Evidence. 2021 Oct 14;10(1):25 http://hdl.handle.net/10852/88975 1946592 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-021-00240-0 URN:NBN:no-91588 Fulltext https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/88975/1/13750_2021_Article_240.pdf |
op_rights |
The Author(s) Attribution 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-021-00240-0 |
container_title |
Environmental Evidence |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766307832198594560 |
spelling |
ftoslouniv:oai:www.duo.uio.no:10852/88975 2023-05-15T14:34:53+02:00 Location of studies and evidence of effects of herbivory on Arctic vegetation: a systematic map Soininen, E. M. Barrio, I. C. Bjørkås, R. Björnsdóttir, K. Ehrich, D. Hopping, K. A. Kaarlejärvi, E. Kolstad, A. L. Abdulmanova, S. Björk, R. G. Bueno, C. G. Eischeid, I. Finger-Higgens, R. Forbey, J. S. Gignac, C. Gilg, O. den Herder, M. Holm, H. S. Hwang, B. C. Jepsen, J. U. Kamenova, S. Kater, I. Koltz, A. M. Kristensen, J. A. Little, C. J. Macek, P. Mathisen, K. M. Metcalfe, D. B. Mosbacher, J. B. Mörsdorf, M. Park, T. Propster, J. R. Roberts, A. J. Serrano, E. Spiegel, M. P. Tamayo, M. Tuomi, M. W. Verma, M. Vuorinen, K. E. M. Väisänen, M. van der Wal, R. Wilcots, M. E. Yoccoz, N. G. Speed, J. D. M. 2021 http://hdl.handle.net/10852/88975 http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-91588 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-021-00240-0 eng eng http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-91588 Environmental Evidence. 2021 Oct 14;10(1):25 http://hdl.handle.net/10852/88975 1946592 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-021-00240-0 URN:NBN:no-91588 Fulltext https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/88975/1/13750_2021_Article_240.pdf The Author(s) Attribution 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed PublishedVersion 2021 ftoslouniv https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-021-00240-0 2021-12-15T23:33:09Z Background Herbivores modify the structure and function of tundra ecosystems. Understanding their impacts is necessary to assess the responses of these ecosystems to ongoing environmental changes. However, the effects of herbivores on plants and ecosystem structure and function vary across the Arctic. Strong spatial variation in herbivore effects implies that the results of individual studies on herbivory depend on local conditions, i.e., their ecological context. An important first step in assessing whether generalizable conclusions can be produced is to identify the existing studies and assess how well they cover the underlying environmental conditions across the Arctic. This systematic map aims to identify the ecological contexts in which herbivore impacts on vegetation have been studied in the Arctic. Specifically, the primary question of the systematic map was: “What evidence exists on the effects of herbivores on Arctic vegetation?”. Methods We used a published systematic map protocol to identify studies addressing the effects of herbivores on Arctic vegetation. We conducted searches for relevant literature in online databases, search engines and specialist websites. Literature was screened to identify eligible studies, defined as reporting primary data on herbivore impacts on Arctic plants and plant communities. We extracted information on variables that describe the ecological context of the studies, from the studies themselves and from geospatial data. We synthesized the findings narratively and created a Shiny App where the coded data are searchable and variables can be visually explored. Review findings We identified 309 relevant articles with 662 studies (representing different ecological contexts or datasets within the same article). These studies addressed vertebrate herbivory seven times more often than invertebrate herbivory. Geographically, the largest cluster of studies was in Northern Fennoscandia. Warmer and wetter parts of the Arctic had the largest representation, as did coastal areas and areas where the increase in temperature has been moderate. In contrast, studies spanned the full range of ecological context variables describing Arctic vertebrate herbivore diversity and human population density and impact. Conclusions The current evidence base might not be sufficient to understand the effects of herbivores on Arctic vegetation throughout the region, as we identified clear biases in the distribution of herbivore studies in the Arctic and a limited evidence base on invertebrate herbivory. In particular, the overrepresentation of studies in areas with moderate increases in temperature prevents robust generalizations about the effects of herbivores under different climatic scenarios. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Fennoscandia Tundra Universitet i Oslo: Digitale utgivelser ved UiO (DUO) Arctic Environmental Evidence 10 1 |