Impact of rewilding, species introductions and climate change on the structure and function of the Yukon boreal forest ecosystem
Community and ecosystem changes are happening in the pristine boreal forest ecosystem of the Yukon for 2 reasons. First, climate change is affecting the abiotic environment (temperature, rainfall and growing season) and driving changes in plant productivity and predator–prey interactions. Second, si...
Published in: | Integrative Zoology |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
John Wiley and Sons Inc.
2018
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5888177/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29168615 https://doi.org/10.1111/1749-4877.12288 |
id |
ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:5888177 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:5888177 2023-05-15T13:21:52+02:00 Impact of rewilding, species introductions and climate change on the structure and function of the Yukon boreal forest ecosystem BOONSTRA, Rudy BOUTIN, Stan JUNG, Thomas S. KREBS, Charles J. TAYLOR, Shawn 2018-03-14 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5888177/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29168615 https://doi.org/10.1111/1749-4877.12288 en eng John Wiley and Sons Inc. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5888177/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29168615 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1749-4877.12288 © 2017 The Authors. Integrative Zoology published by International Society of Zoological Sciences, Institute of Zoology/Chinese Academy of Sciences and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. CC-BY-NC-ND Original Articles Text 2018 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1111/1749-4877.12288 2018-08-26T00:08:01Z Community and ecosystem changes are happening in the pristine boreal forest ecosystem of the Yukon for 2 reasons. First, climate change is affecting the abiotic environment (temperature, rainfall and growing season) and driving changes in plant productivity and predator–prey interactions. Second, simultaneously change is occurring because of mammal species reintroductions and rewilding. The key ecological question is the impact these faunal changes will have on trophic dynamics. Primary productivity in the boreal forest is increasing because of climatic warming, but plant species composition is unlikely to change significantly during the next 50–100 years. The 9–10‐year population cycle of snowshoe hares will persist but could be reduced in amplitude if winter weather increases predator hunting efficiency. Small rodents have increased in abundance because of increased vegetation growth. Arctic ground squirrels have disappeared from the forest because of increased predator hunting efficiency associated with shrub growth. Reintroductions have occurred for 2 reasons: human reintroductions of large ungulates and natural recolonization of mammals and birds extending their geographic ranges. The deliberate rewilding of wood bison (Bison bison) and elk (Cervus canadensis) has changed the trophic structure of this boreal ecosystem very little. The natural range expansion of mountain lions (Puma concolor), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and American marten (Martes americana) should have few ecosystem effects. Understanding potential changes will require long‐term monitoring studies and experiments on a scale we rarely deem possible. Ecosystems affected by climate change, species reintroductions and human alteration of habitats cannot remain stable and changes will be critically dependent on food web interactions. Text American marten Arctic Climate change elk Martes americana martes Wood Bison Bison bison bison Yukon PubMed Central (PMC) Arctic Yukon Integrative Zoology 13 2 123 138 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
PubMed Central (PMC) |
op_collection_id |
ftpubmed |
language |
English |
topic |
Original Articles |
spellingShingle |
Original Articles BOONSTRA, Rudy BOUTIN, Stan JUNG, Thomas S. KREBS, Charles J. TAYLOR, Shawn Impact of rewilding, species introductions and climate change on the structure and function of the Yukon boreal forest ecosystem |
topic_facet |
Original Articles |
description |
Community and ecosystem changes are happening in the pristine boreal forest ecosystem of the Yukon for 2 reasons. First, climate change is affecting the abiotic environment (temperature, rainfall and growing season) and driving changes in plant productivity and predator–prey interactions. Second, simultaneously change is occurring because of mammal species reintroductions and rewilding. The key ecological question is the impact these faunal changes will have on trophic dynamics. Primary productivity in the boreal forest is increasing because of climatic warming, but plant species composition is unlikely to change significantly during the next 50–100 years. The 9–10‐year population cycle of snowshoe hares will persist but could be reduced in amplitude if winter weather increases predator hunting efficiency. Small rodents have increased in abundance because of increased vegetation growth. Arctic ground squirrels have disappeared from the forest because of increased predator hunting efficiency associated with shrub growth. Reintroductions have occurred for 2 reasons: human reintroductions of large ungulates and natural recolonization of mammals and birds extending their geographic ranges. The deliberate rewilding of wood bison (Bison bison) and elk (Cervus canadensis) has changed the trophic structure of this boreal ecosystem very little. The natural range expansion of mountain lions (Puma concolor), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and American marten (Martes americana) should have few ecosystem effects. Understanding potential changes will require long‐term monitoring studies and experiments on a scale we rarely deem possible. Ecosystems affected by climate change, species reintroductions and human alteration of habitats cannot remain stable and changes will be critically dependent on food web interactions. |
format |
Text |
author |
BOONSTRA, Rudy BOUTIN, Stan JUNG, Thomas S. KREBS, Charles J. TAYLOR, Shawn |
author_facet |
BOONSTRA, Rudy BOUTIN, Stan JUNG, Thomas S. KREBS, Charles J. TAYLOR, Shawn |
author_sort |
BOONSTRA, Rudy |
title |
Impact of rewilding, species introductions and climate change on the structure and function of the Yukon boreal forest ecosystem |
title_short |
Impact of rewilding, species introductions and climate change on the structure and function of the Yukon boreal forest ecosystem |
title_full |
Impact of rewilding, species introductions and climate change on the structure and function of the Yukon boreal forest ecosystem |
title_fullStr |
Impact of rewilding, species introductions and climate change on the structure and function of the Yukon boreal forest ecosystem |
title_full_unstemmed |
Impact of rewilding, species introductions and climate change on the structure and function of the Yukon boreal forest ecosystem |
title_sort |
impact of rewilding, species introductions and climate change on the structure and function of the yukon boreal forest ecosystem |
publisher |
John Wiley and Sons Inc. |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5888177/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29168615 https://doi.org/10.1111/1749-4877.12288 |
geographic |
Arctic Yukon |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Yukon |
genre |
American marten Arctic Climate change elk Martes americana martes Wood Bison Bison bison bison Yukon |
genre_facet |
American marten Arctic Climate change elk Martes americana martes Wood Bison Bison bison bison Yukon |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5888177/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29168615 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1749-4877.12288 |
op_rights |
© 2017 The Authors. Integrative Zoology published by International Society of Zoological Sciences, Institute of Zoology/Chinese Academy of Sciences and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC-ND |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/1749-4877.12288 |
container_title |
Integrative Zoology |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
123 |
op_container_end_page |
138 |
_version_ |
1766361951509676032 |