Vegetation composition and shrub extent on the Yukon coast, Canada, are strongly linked to ice-wedge polygon degradation
Changing environmental and geomorphological conditions are resulting in vegetation change in ice-wedge polygons in Arctic tundra. However, we do not yet know how microscale vegetation patterns relate to individual environmental and geomorphological parameters. This work aims at examining these relat...
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Norwegian Polar Institute
2016
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v35.27489 https://doaj.org/article/e601d39d69b04161a3a0eb3ab4099265 |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:e601d39d69b04161a3a0eb3ab4099265 2023-05-15T15:00:51+02:00 Vegetation composition and shrub extent on the Yukon coast, Canada, are strongly linked to ice-wedge polygon degradation Juliane Wolter Hugues Lantuit Michael Fritz Marc Macias-Fauria Isla Myers-Smith Ulrike Herzschuh 2016-06-01 https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v35.27489 https://doaj.org/article/e601d39d69b04161a3a0eb3ab4099265 en eng Norwegian Polar Institute 1751-8369 doi:10.3402/polar.v35.27489 https://doaj.org/article/e601d39d69b04161a3a0eb3ab4099265 undefined Polar Research, Vol 35, Iss 0, Pp 1-13 (2016) Ice-wedge polygon mires western Canadian Arctic modern vegetation microtopography permafrost envir geo Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2016 fttriple https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v35.27489 2023-01-22T19:28:30Z Changing environmental and geomorphological conditions are resulting in vegetation change in ice-wedge polygons in Arctic tundra. However, we do not yet know how microscale vegetation patterns relate to individual environmental and geomorphological parameters. This work aims at examining these relations in polygonal terrain. We analysed composition and cover of vascular plant taxa and surface height, active layer depth, soil temperature, carbon and nitrogen content, pH and electrical conductivity in four polygon mires located on the Yukon coast. We found that vascular plant species composition and cover correlates best with relative surface height. Ridges of low-centred polygons and raised centres of high-centred polygons support the growth of mesic and wetland species (e.g., Betula glandulosa, Salix pulchra, S. reticulata, Rubus chamaemorus, various ericaceous dwarf shrubs, Eriophorum vaginatum, Poa arctica). Wetland and aquatic plant species (e.g., E. angustifolium, Carex aquatilis, C. chordorrhiza, Pedicularis sudetica) grow in low-lying centres of polygons and in troughs between polygons. We also found a relationship between vascular plant species composition and substrate characteristics such as pH, electrical conductivity and total organic carbon, although the individual influence of these parameters could not be determined because of their correlation with relative surface height. Our findings stress the regulatory role of microtopography and substrate in vegetation dynamics of polygonal terrain. Ongoing warming in this region will lead to changes to polygonal terrain through permafrost degradation and subsequent conversion of low-centred into high-centred polygons. Our results indicate that shrubs, particularly Betula glandulosa and heath species, have the potential to expand most. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Carex aquatilis Eriophorum Ice permafrost Polar Research Rubus chamaemorus Tundra wedge* Yukon Unknown Arctic Canada Yukon Polar Research 35 1 27489 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Unknown |
op_collection_id |
fttriple |
language |
English |
topic |
Ice-wedge polygon mires western Canadian Arctic modern vegetation microtopography permafrost envir geo |
spellingShingle |
Ice-wedge polygon mires western Canadian Arctic modern vegetation microtopography permafrost envir geo Juliane Wolter Hugues Lantuit Michael Fritz Marc Macias-Fauria Isla Myers-Smith Ulrike Herzschuh Vegetation composition and shrub extent on the Yukon coast, Canada, are strongly linked to ice-wedge polygon degradation |
topic_facet |
Ice-wedge polygon mires western Canadian Arctic modern vegetation microtopography permafrost envir geo |
description |
Changing environmental and geomorphological conditions are resulting in vegetation change in ice-wedge polygons in Arctic tundra. However, we do not yet know how microscale vegetation patterns relate to individual environmental and geomorphological parameters. This work aims at examining these relations in polygonal terrain. We analysed composition and cover of vascular plant taxa and surface height, active layer depth, soil temperature, carbon and nitrogen content, pH and electrical conductivity in four polygon mires located on the Yukon coast. We found that vascular plant species composition and cover correlates best with relative surface height. Ridges of low-centred polygons and raised centres of high-centred polygons support the growth of mesic and wetland species (e.g., Betula glandulosa, Salix pulchra, S. reticulata, Rubus chamaemorus, various ericaceous dwarf shrubs, Eriophorum vaginatum, Poa arctica). Wetland and aquatic plant species (e.g., E. angustifolium, Carex aquatilis, C. chordorrhiza, Pedicularis sudetica) grow in low-lying centres of polygons and in troughs between polygons. We also found a relationship between vascular plant species composition and substrate characteristics such as pH, electrical conductivity and total organic carbon, although the individual influence of these parameters could not be determined because of their correlation with relative surface height. Our findings stress the regulatory role of microtopography and substrate in vegetation dynamics of polygonal terrain. Ongoing warming in this region will lead to changes to polygonal terrain through permafrost degradation and subsequent conversion of low-centred into high-centred polygons. Our results indicate that shrubs, particularly Betula glandulosa and heath species, have the potential to expand most. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Juliane Wolter Hugues Lantuit Michael Fritz Marc Macias-Fauria Isla Myers-Smith Ulrike Herzschuh |
author_facet |
Juliane Wolter Hugues Lantuit Michael Fritz Marc Macias-Fauria Isla Myers-Smith Ulrike Herzschuh |
author_sort |
Juliane Wolter |
title |
Vegetation composition and shrub extent on the Yukon coast, Canada, are strongly linked to ice-wedge polygon degradation |
title_short |
Vegetation composition and shrub extent on the Yukon coast, Canada, are strongly linked to ice-wedge polygon degradation |
title_full |
Vegetation composition and shrub extent on the Yukon coast, Canada, are strongly linked to ice-wedge polygon degradation |
title_fullStr |
Vegetation composition and shrub extent on the Yukon coast, Canada, are strongly linked to ice-wedge polygon degradation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Vegetation composition and shrub extent on the Yukon coast, Canada, are strongly linked to ice-wedge polygon degradation |
title_sort |
vegetation composition and shrub extent on the yukon coast, canada, are strongly linked to ice-wedge polygon degradation |
publisher |
Norwegian Polar Institute |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v35.27489 https://doaj.org/article/e601d39d69b04161a3a0eb3ab4099265 |
geographic |
Arctic Canada Yukon |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada Yukon |
genre |
Arctic Carex aquatilis Eriophorum Ice permafrost Polar Research Rubus chamaemorus Tundra wedge* Yukon |
genre_facet |
Arctic Carex aquatilis Eriophorum Ice permafrost Polar Research Rubus chamaemorus Tundra wedge* Yukon |
op_source |
Polar Research, Vol 35, Iss 0, Pp 1-13 (2016) |
op_relation |
1751-8369 doi:10.3402/polar.v35.27489 https://doaj.org/article/e601d39d69b04161a3a0eb3ab4099265 |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v35.27489 |
container_title |
Polar Research |
container_volume |
35 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
27489 |
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1766332903459913728 |