Limited decadal growth of mountain birch saplings has minor impact on surrounding tundra vegetation
Temperatures over the Arctic region are increasing at three times the rate of the global average. Consequently, Arctic vegetation is changing and trees are encroaching into the tundra. In this study, we examine the establishment and growth of mountain birch (Betula pubescens ssp. tortuosa), which fo...
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Online Access: | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9219107/ https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9028 |
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:9219107 2023-05-15T12:59:37+02:00 Limited decadal growth of mountain birch saplings has minor impact on surrounding tundra vegetation Scharn, Ruud Negri, Isabel S. Sundqvist, Maja K. Løkken, Jørn O. Bacon, Christine D. Antonelli, Alexandre Hofgaard, Annika Nilsson, R. Henrik Björk, Robert G. 2022-06-23 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9219107/ https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9028 en eng John Wiley and Sons Inc. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9219107/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9028 © 2022 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. CC-BY Ecol Evol Research Articles Text 2022 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9028 2022-07-03T00:43:31Z Temperatures over the Arctic region are increasing at three times the rate of the global average. Consequently, Arctic vegetation is changing and trees are encroaching into the tundra. In this study, we examine the establishment and growth of mountain birch (Betula pubescens ssp. tortuosa), which forms the treeline in subarctic Europe, and its impact on community composition across the treeline ecotone nearby Abisko, Sweden. Birch advancement along elevational gradients was studied by comparing data collected in 2016 with data collected 10 and 15 years previously. Species identity, cover, and phylogenetic relatedness were used to assess the impact of birch encroachment on community composition. Our results show that birch occurrence above the treeline did not affect plant community composition, probably owing to the observed lack of significant growth due to herbivore browsing, nitrogen limitation, or a reduction in snow cover. Independent of birch performance, the tundra community structure shifted toward a novel community dissimilar from the forest plant community found below the treeline. Taken together, our findings are explained by species‐specific responses to climate change, rather than by a linear forest advance. Future treeline advancements are likely more restricted than previously expected. Text Abisko Arctic Climate change Subarctic Tundra PubMed Central (PMC) Abisko ENVELOPE(18.829,18.829,68.349,68.349) Arctic Ecology and Evolution 12 6 |
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PubMed Central (PMC) |
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ftpubmed |
language |
English |
topic |
Research Articles |
spellingShingle |
Research Articles Scharn, Ruud Negri, Isabel S. Sundqvist, Maja K. Løkken, Jørn O. Bacon, Christine D. Antonelli, Alexandre Hofgaard, Annika Nilsson, R. Henrik Björk, Robert G. Limited decadal growth of mountain birch saplings has minor impact on surrounding tundra vegetation |
topic_facet |
Research Articles |
description |
Temperatures over the Arctic region are increasing at three times the rate of the global average. Consequently, Arctic vegetation is changing and trees are encroaching into the tundra. In this study, we examine the establishment and growth of mountain birch (Betula pubescens ssp. tortuosa), which forms the treeline in subarctic Europe, and its impact on community composition across the treeline ecotone nearby Abisko, Sweden. Birch advancement along elevational gradients was studied by comparing data collected in 2016 with data collected 10 and 15 years previously. Species identity, cover, and phylogenetic relatedness were used to assess the impact of birch encroachment on community composition. Our results show that birch occurrence above the treeline did not affect plant community composition, probably owing to the observed lack of significant growth due to herbivore browsing, nitrogen limitation, or a reduction in snow cover. Independent of birch performance, the tundra community structure shifted toward a novel community dissimilar from the forest plant community found below the treeline. Taken together, our findings are explained by species‐specific responses to climate change, rather than by a linear forest advance. Future treeline advancements are likely more restricted than previously expected. |
format |
Text |
author |
Scharn, Ruud Negri, Isabel S. Sundqvist, Maja K. Løkken, Jørn O. Bacon, Christine D. Antonelli, Alexandre Hofgaard, Annika Nilsson, R. Henrik Björk, Robert G. |
author_facet |
Scharn, Ruud Negri, Isabel S. Sundqvist, Maja K. Løkken, Jørn O. Bacon, Christine D. Antonelli, Alexandre Hofgaard, Annika Nilsson, R. Henrik Björk, Robert G. |
author_sort |
Scharn, Ruud |
title |
Limited decadal growth of mountain birch saplings has minor impact on surrounding tundra vegetation |
title_short |
Limited decadal growth of mountain birch saplings has minor impact on surrounding tundra vegetation |
title_full |
Limited decadal growth of mountain birch saplings has minor impact on surrounding tundra vegetation |
title_fullStr |
Limited decadal growth of mountain birch saplings has minor impact on surrounding tundra vegetation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Limited decadal growth of mountain birch saplings has minor impact on surrounding tundra vegetation |
title_sort |
limited decadal growth of mountain birch saplings has minor impact on surrounding tundra vegetation |
publisher |
John Wiley and Sons Inc. |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9219107/ https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9028 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(18.829,18.829,68.349,68.349) |
geographic |
Abisko Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Abisko Arctic |
genre |
Abisko Arctic Climate change Subarctic Tundra |
genre_facet |
Abisko Arctic Climate change Subarctic Tundra |
op_source |
Ecol Evol |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9219107/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9028 |
op_rights |
© 2022 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9028 |
container_title |
Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
6 |
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1766063957268758528 |