The Longest Baseline Record of Vegetation Dynamics in Antarctica Reveals Acute Sensitivity to Water Availability
Against a changing climate, the development of evidence-based and progressive conservation policies depends on robust and quantitative baseline studies to resolve habitat natural variability and rate of change. Despite Antarctica's significant role in global climate regulation, climate trend es...
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ftslunivuppsala:oai:pub.epsilon.slu.se:28843 2023-05-15T13:48:36+02:00 The Longest Baseline Record of Vegetation Dynamics in Antarctica Reveals Acute Sensitivity to Water Availability Colesie, Claudia Pan, Yueming Cary, S. Craig Gemal, Emma Brabyn, Lars Kim, Jeong-Hoon Green, T. G. Allan Lee, Charles K. 2022 application/pdf https://pub.epsilon.slu.se/28843/ https://pub.epsilon.slu.se/28843/1/colesie-c-et-al-20220914.pdf en eng eng https://pub.epsilon.slu.se/28843/1/colesie-c-et-al-20220914.pdf Colesie, Claudia and Pan, Yueming and Cary, S. Craig and Gemal, Emma and Brabyn, Lars and Kim, Jeong-Hoon and Green, T. G. Allan and Lee, Charles K. (2022). The Longest Baseline Record of Vegetation Dynamics in Antarctica Reveals Acute Sensitivity to Water Availability. Earth's Future. 10 :8 , e2022EF002823 [Research article] Climate Research Environmental Sciences (social aspects to be 507) Physical Geography Research article NonPeerReviewed 2022 ftslunivuppsala 2022-10-06T16:13:50Z Against a changing climate, the development of evidence-based and progressive conservation policies depends on robust and quantitative baseline studies to resolve habitat natural variability and rate of change. Despite Antarctica's significant role in global climate regulation, climate trend estimates for continental Antarctica are ambiguous due to sparse long-term in situ records. Here, we present the longest, spatially explicit survey of Antarctic vegetation by harmonizing historic vegetation mapping with modern remote sensing techniques. In 1961, E. D. Rudolph established a permanent survey plot at Cape Hallett, one of the most botanically diverse areas along the Ross Sea coastline, harboring all known types of non-vascular Antarctic vegetation. Following a survey in 2004 using ground-based photography, we conducted the third survey of Rudolph's Plot in 2018 using near-ground remote sensing and methodologies closely mirroring the two historic surveys to identify long-term changes and trends. Our results revealed that the vegetation at Cape Hallett remained stable over the past six decades with no evidence of transformation related to a changing climate. Instead, the local vegetation shows strong seasonal phenology, distribution patterns that are driven by water availability, and steady perennial growth of moss. Given that East Antarctica is at the tipping point of drastic change in the near future, with biological change having been reported at certain locations, this record represents a unique and potentially the last opportunity to establish a meaningful biological sentinel that will allow us to track subtle yet impactful environmental change in terrestrial Antarctica in the 21st century. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ross Sea Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU): Epsilon Open Archive Antarctic Cape Hallett ENVELOPE(170.217,170.217,-72.317,-72.317) East Antarctica Hallett ENVELOPE(170.217,170.217,-72.317,-72.317) Ross Sea Rudolph ENVELOPE(-62.433,-62.433,-64.900,-64.900) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU): Epsilon Open Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftslunivuppsala |
language |
English |
topic |
Climate Research Environmental Sciences (social aspects to be 507) Physical Geography |
spellingShingle |
Climate Research Environmental Sciences (social aspects to be 507) Physical Geography Colesie, Claudia Pan, Yueming Cary, S. Craig Gemal, Emma Brabyn, Lars Kim, Jeong-Hoon Green, T. G. Allan Lee, Charles K. The Longest Baseline Record of Vegetation Dynamics in Antarctica Reveals Acute Sensitivity to Water Availability |
topic_facet |
Climate Research Environmental Sciences (social aspects to be 507) Physical Geography |
description |
Against a changing climate, the development of evidence-based and progressive conservation policies depends on robust and quantitative baseline studies to resolve habitat natural variability and rate of change. Despite Antarctica's significant role in global climate regulation, climate trend estimates for continental Antarctica are ambiguous due to sparse long-term in situ records. Here, we present the longest, spatially explicit survey of Antarctic vegetation by harmonizing historic vegetation mapping with modern remote sensing techniques. In 1961, E. D. Rudolph established a permanent survey plot at Cape Hallett, one of the most botanically diverse areas along the Ross Sea coastline, harboring all known types of non-vascular Antarctic vegetation. Following a survey in 2004 using ground-based photography, we conducted the third survey of Rudolph's Plot in 2018 using near-ground remote sensing and methodologies closely mirroring the two historic surveys to identify long-term changes and trends. Our results revealed that the vegetation at Cape Hallett remained stable over the past six decades with no evidence of transformation related to a changing climate. Instead, the local vegetation shows strong seasonal phenology, distribution patterns that are driven by water availability, and steady perennial growth of moss. Given that East Antarctica is at the tipping point of drastic change in the near future, with biological change having been reported at certain locations, this record represents a unique and potentially the last opportunity to establish a meaningful biological sentinel that will allow us to track subtle yet impactful environmental change in terrestrial Antarctica in the 21st century. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Colesie, Claudia Pan, Yueming Cary, S. Craig Gemal, Emma Brabyn, Lars Kim, Jeong-Hoon Green, T. G. Allan Lee, Charles K. |
author_facet |
Colesie, Claudia Pan, Yueming Cary, S. Craig Gemal, Emma Brabyn, Lars Kim, Jeong-Hoon Green, T. G. Allan Lee, Charles K. |
author_sort |
Colesie, Claudia |
title |
The Longest Baseline Record of Vegetation Dynamics in Antarctica Reveals Acute Sensitivity to Water Availability |
title_short |
The Longest Baseline Record of Vegetation Dynamics in Antarctica Reveals Acute Sensitivity to Water Availability |
title_full |
The Longest Baseline Record of Vegetation Dynamics in Antarctica Reveals Acute Sensitivity to Water Availability |
title_fullStr |
The Longest Baseline Record of Vegetation Dynamics in Antarctica Reveals Acute Sensitivity to Water Availability |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Longest Baseline Record of Vegetation Dynamics in Antarctica Reveals Acute Sensitivity to Water Availability |
title_sort |
longest baseline record of vegetation dynamics in antarctica reveals acute sensitivity to water availability |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://pub.epsilon.slu.se/28843/ https://pub.epsilon.slu.se/28843/1/colesie-c-et-al-20220914.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(170.217,170.217,-72.317,-72.317) ENVELOPE(170.217,170.217,-72.317,-72.317) ENVELOPE(-62.433,-62.433,-64.900,-64.900) |
geographic |
Antarctic Cape Hallett East Antarctica Hallett Ross Sea Rudolph |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Cape Hallett East Antarctica Hallett Ross Sea Rudolph |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ross Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ross Sea |
op_relation |
https://pub.epsilon.slu.se/28843/1/colesie-c-et-al-20220914.pdf Colesie, Claudia and Pan, Yueming and Cary, S. Craig and Gemal, Emma and Brabyn, Lars and Kim, Jeong-Hoon and Green, T. G. Allan and Lee, Charles K. (2022). The Longest Baseline Record of Vegetation Dynamics in Antarctica Reveals Acute Sensitivity to Water Availability. Earth's Future. 10 :8 , e2022EF002823 [Research article] |
_version_ |
1766249504415154176 |